C L O S E R

Een genekte school in Gouda

Posted on May 31st, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Gouda Issues, Some personal considerations.

Het is 1999 wanneer ik een school in Gouda binnenloop. Op dat moment werk ik als onderzoeker in de An Nour moskee in Gouda, maar ben daar tevens jongerenwerker verbonden aan moskee An Nour en Stichting Woonhuis, een instelling voor jeugdhulpverlening. Ik houd me in het bijzonder bezig met de inloophuiswerkbegeleiding waarbij ook met diverse scholen in Gouda samen gewerkt wordt. Dat willen we ook met deze school en deze school wil dat ook dus dat komt mooi uit.

Het was een school met een zeer slechte naam onder Marokkaanse Nederlanders om twee redenen. Vanwege de problemen die Marokkaans-Nederlandse jongeren zelf veroorzaakten op die school en vanwege de volgens velen racistische en discriminerende houding van een klein groepje docenten.

Ik kom binnen en aangezien mijn gesprekspartner nog niet beschikbaar is, wordt ik zo lang in de docentenkamer neergezet. Daar zijn docenten bezig met het bespreken van de inschrijvingen voor dat jaar. Dit gepaard met veel gezucht en hilariteit dat vooral betrekking heeft op het stapeltje ‘probleemleerlingen’. Alle potentiële Marokkaans-Nederlandse leerlingen gaan op dat stapeltje. Soms omdat men de broertjes of zusjes kent die al voor problemen zorgen en dus zal hun jongere broer of zus dat ook wel doen. In andere gevallen belanden de Marokkaans-Nederlandse leerlingen er omdat ‘al die Marokkanen toch altijd voor problemen zorgen’ of men ze nu kent of niet. Al voor het schooljaar begon had men dus alle potentiële Marokkaans-Nederlandse leerlingen al een label opgeplakt.

Toen men in de gaten kreeg dat ik van een jeugdhulpverleningsinstelling kwam, was de opmerking dat ze nog wel een stapeltje voor mij hadden aanleiding voor gegniffel. Toen mijn gesprekspartner mij kwam halen met de vraag ‘waar is de man van moskee An Nour?’ waren de betreffende grapjassen zeer verbaasd aan hun grote ogen te zien en men deed er meteen het zwijgen toe.

Later vroeg een docente aan mij die nog nooit van het project had gehoord:
En zitten jullie daar in de moskee dan ook gescheiden van de meisjes? Ja? Zo wordt dat natuurlijk niks met de integratie hier.

Ook deze docent had dus al een oordeel klaar zonder het project te kennen en zonder de inspanning die de moskeeorganisatie deed om de onderwijsprestaties van onder meer meisjes te verbeteren, op waarde te kunnen en willen schatten.

De school ging op dat moment gebukt onder een dreigende sluiting en later overname (gepresenteerd als fusie) door een andere school. Mijn inschatting is en was dat dat alle goede bedoelingen van de kant van de welwillende docenten en directieleden zo goed als teniet deed en de enkele racistische en gefrustreerde docent vrij spel gaf. Een groep die het al lang had opgegeven met die Marokkaans-Nederlandse leerlingen en dat ook overbracht.

De school was een brandpunt van mislukte onderwijsvernieuwing, druk tot schaalvergroting, een gefrusteerd (en soms discriminerend) lerarencorps, problematiek van Marokkaans-Nederlandse jongeren en daarmee gepaard gaande onmacht, waar geen goede wil (die er zeker was bij een groep docenten en directieleden) meer tegen opgewassen was.

Ook dat was het Delta College in Gouda.

3 comments.

Closing the week 22

Posted on May 31st, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere.

Closer
Most popular this week:

1. Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics
2. Criminalisering van islam?
3. Een impressie van het Nationaal Islam Congres

If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE.

Featured
Invisible Culture – An Electronic journal for Visual Culture: Interview with Benedict Anderson by Cynthia Foo (Open Access)

On October 1, 2008, Benedict Anderson presented a talk at Columbia University in which he discussed his upcoming book, a biography of the Chinese-Indonesian journalist Kwee Thiam Tjing. Having found a book of Kwee’s writings in a second-hand bookshop in Indonesia in 1962, Anderson describes his surprise that no one could identify the pseudonymous author, who wrote what Anderson considers to be “the greatest piece of prose written in the first half of the 20th century by anybody in Indonesia.” For years after Kwee’s death, Anderson explains, details of the journalist’s life and work were forgotten. It was only recently that Anderson was himself able to write about the author, in the process considering the role of cosmopolitanism in the life of the colonial subject.

And another interview can be found at Post-Colonial Studies:

In developing his theories, Anderson observes that the notion of “nation-ness” is, in the recent years, becoming a principal force in many aspects of modern thought. Both the rapid expansion of the United Nations, and the political unrest caused by conflict between and within “sub-nations” around the world (Imagined 3), are evidence that nationalism is, indeed, recognized as modern political moral hegemony.

Yet despite the influence that nationalism has had on modern society, Anderson finds the origins of the concept inadequately explained and recorded. His purpose in writing Imagined Communities is to provide a historical background for the emergence of nationalism — its development, evolution, and reception.

International (English)

anthropology
anthro:politico: Ritualized Consumption

What if “Western” rituals are based on having the power to consume? Advertisers and marketers have recognized the value of this idea for years. We’re forever hearing about the buying power of kids vs. tweens vs. teens and the strengths of those markets. Now ages are frequently marked by what consumer products are appropriate – for example, what’s the right age for your kid to get their first cell phone, and how is that determined by society-at-large?

Somatosphere: Teaching Anthropology of the Body

In hindsight, it seems much easier to work with the simple idea that all of our analytical frameworks are developed to respond to particular problematics, whether social, institutional, political, conceptual. This is something close to an anthropological cliché, but I think that it remains useful when thinking about how to organize knowledge in an area as rich as contemporary anthropological literature on the body.

Useful syllabi on virtual worlds and technology | Savage Minds

Random cruising around the IntarWeb today I tumbled over two interesting sources for syllabi on virtual worlds and the IntarWeb itself. First, Tom Boellstorff has syllabi on Culture in Virtual Worlds and Culture Power Cyberspace on his department website. You’ve read the ethnography, now vicariously take the course! Seriously, though, its great for Tom to share these syllabi—circulating syllabi is key to building community and scholarship about topics.

Also, as some of you may know, Polity Press has a series of small introductory readers on blogging, hacking etc. But there is more to it than just that—they have a website that looks like a sort of mini-online community, complete with blog and, yes, syllabi and reading resources.

Current Controversies: Ian Hacking | Forum

I am a conservative reactionary. I know that although my genetic inheritance constrains my possibilities of action and choice, I do not believe it is my essence or constitutes my identity. My question could be put: how long will it take before this attitude becomes extinct? We know that the genomic revolution will radically change the material conditions of life for soon-to-be-born generations. My question is: what will be the conception of self for those people soon to come?

CULCOM – Thomas Hylland Eriksen: The cartoon controversy and the possibility of cosmopolitanism

Let us suppose that secularised Danes were to take the religiosity of Muslims seriously and treat it with respect, much as they treat their old parents with respect. In that case, they would easily know how to maneuvre in order not to offend them. Not even trying to maneuvre indicates a strong inclination not to live in the same society even if one lives next door to each other. The kind of cosmopolitan attitude leading to restraint can be compared to the underlying reasoning behind the ban on smoking in public, which is these days being implemented in many parts of the world – but, ironically, not in Muslim countries! A Swede who lives part of the year in Cairo, part of the year in Göteborg, told me that in Göteborg he can have his beer any time anywhere, but he has to go outside to smoke; in Cairo it’s the other way around. The point is, however, that supposing I smoke and you do not, and we are in a room together, I might just tell you that if I smoke and you don’t, we both enjoy our liberal freedom. This is the problem of the cartoon controversy and the simplistic liberal responses to the offended reactions among Muslims. Muhammad cartoons to them are like tobacco smoke to an asthmatic.

Hat tip: Antropologi.info

antropologi.info – anthropology in the news blog – For an Anthropology of Cosmopolitanism

here some notes on anthropology and cosmopolitanism.

After the controversis around the Mohammed-cartoons, media loved talking about culture and religion wars and Huntingtons clash of civilisation. But maybe we should have talked more about cosmopolitanism than culture war. Isn’t cosmopolitanism more common than fundamentalism?

Research
FRA – European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

This EU-MIDIS report on Muslims provides data on how Muslims across the EU experience discrimination and victimisation. It covers Muslim respondents with diverse ethnic origins in 14 Member States.

Guernica / The Genocide Myth

The Genocide Myth
An interview with Mahmood Mamdani

In his latest book, Mamdani attacks the Save Darfur Coalition as ahistorical and dishonest, and argues that the conflict in Darfur is more about land, power, and the environment than it is directly about race.

“The Save Darfur movement claims to have learned from Rwanda,” writes Mahmood Mamdani in his new book, Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror. “But what is the lesson of Rwanda? For many of those mobilized to save Darfur, the lesson is to rescue before it is too late, to act before seeking to understand.” His book is an argument “against those who substitute moral certainty for knowledge, and who feel virtuous even when acting on the basis of total ignorance.” Americans think Darfur is a tragic genocide. Mamdani thinks the reality is more complex. His ideas should be taken seriously for a number of reasons, especially because he provides a road map to a workable peace settlement.

ICSR – The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation And Political Violence

Political extremists and terrorists are increasingly using the internet as an instrument for radicalisation and recruitment. What can be done to counter their activities? Countering Online Radicalisation examines the different technical options for making ‘radical’ internet content unavailable, concluding that they all are either crude, expensive or counter-productive.It sets out a new, innovative strategy which goes beyond ‘pulling the plug’, developing concrete proposals aimed at:

* Deterring the producers of extremist materials
* Empowering users to self-regulate their online communities
* Reducing the appeal of extremist messages through education
* Promoting positive messages

Countering Online Radicalisation results from the first systematic effort to bring together industry, experts and government on the issue of online radicalisation. Its insights and recommendations are certain to be of great interest to experts and policymakers around the world.

International Crisis Group – B92 Indonesia: Radicalisation of the “Palembang Gr

Indonesia has earned well-deserved praise for its handling of home-grown extremism, but the problem has not gone away. In April 2009, ten men involved in a jihadi group in Palembang, South Sumatra, were sent to prison on terrorism charges for killing a Christian teacher and planning more ambitious attacks. Their history provides an unusually detailed case study of radicalisation – the process by which law-abiding individuals become willing to use violence to achieve their goals. The sobering revelation from Palembang is how easy that transformation can be if the right ingredients are present: a core group of individuals, a charismatic leader, motivation and opportunity. Another ingredient, access to weapons, is important but not essential: the Palembang group carried out its first attack with a hammer and only later moved to making bombs.

[…]By contrast, funding was not a particularly important factor in radicalisation, nor was access to the internet. With the exception of the gun and a large donation of potas­sium chlorate for bomb-making, the group scraped together what it needed locally, and it was not much. The biggest expenses were round-trip bus tickets and a house rental at about $20 a month. All com­mu­ni­cation took place by mobile phone or through face-to-face meetings; there appears to have been almost no use of computers.

The 2009 Arab Public Opinion Poll: A View from the Middle East – Brookings Institution

Event Summary
As President Obama prepares to address the greater Muslim world from Egypt, understanding the mood and opinions of the Arab public is a critical challenge. As the people of the region respond to a wide range of dynamics—including American efforts to jump-start the Middle East peace process, stabilize Iraq and halt extremist gains in Pakistan and Afghanistan—accurately gauging Arab public opinion is vital.

Arab public opinion in 2009 | Marc Lynch

The key findings:

* Iraq was the single most important issue influencing Arab attitudes towards the Obama administration.
* Obama is personally inspiring some hope, but deep skepticism remains about U.S. foreign policy.
* Iran has lost ground with Arab public opinion but is not seen as much of a threat.
* Arabs prefer Hamas to Fatah, but want to see a Palestinian national unity government.
* The Syrian Embassy is likely tickled pink that Bashar al-Asad was the highest rated Arab leader in the question “which two world leaders outside your own country do you admire most.”

In my brief comments, I noted that we’re still a long way from having the kind of data necessary for Nate Silver-style 538.com analysis of these surveys, but there is more and more data out there to work with.

Paint by numbers – The National Newspaper

There has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the amount of polls conducted by Arab governments and NGOs – helping to correct the emphasis of the first wave of post-September 11 surveys carried out by American organisations, which were overwhelmingly narcissistic: How do Arabs feel about America? About American policies? About American leaders? In short, how do Arabs feel about the issues Americans care about? These polls produced results, but without any sense of how much the issues really mattered to the people being surveyed. For instance, survey research has consistently found that economic and quality of life issues – rather than American policies or politics – are foremost among Arab concerns.

Opinion research that explores deeper cultural matters and local political issues will be far more useful than news-making surveys about anti-Americanism. Mark Tessler, who heads the Arab Barometer project – and is the leading American academic working on Arab public opinion – argues that efforts should be directed toward “explanation rather than descriptions” in order to assemble a complex picture about attitudes and their causes rather than bullet-point numbers.

“FIFTY PER CENT ARABS HOPEFUL ABOUT OBAMA” is fine for headline writers, but it is far less important than acquiring a sense of why they are hopeful, or about what would vindicate, or dash, their hopes.

Thoughts on religious (Islamic) revival
Free market faith | New Humanist

Free market faith
Globalisation is leading to more belief, not less. Caspar Melville talks to the editor of The Economist about his new book tracing the rise and rise of religion

New Statesman – God Is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith Is Changing the World

Contrary to what evangelical rationalists preach, it is perfectly possible both to be modern and to believe in God. But there is no reason to assume that the American religious model will prevail

From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy by Kenan Malik – Times Online

Alarmed by race riots in the 1980s, local and national government in Britain embarked on a multicultural strategy. Respect was to be accorded to different ways of life and, fatally, these ways of life were to be classified as communities with their own “community leaders”.

In a way, it worked. Racism did, indeed, decline. But the price was high. The creation of “communities” replaced racism with tribalism and, in 2005, tribal riots between blacks and Asians broke out in Birmingham. These riots were caused by multiculturalism. Before the council told them they were members of a “community”, they were just people living together in the same place. “Hostility,” writes Kenan Malik, “is not in the blood of Asians or African-Caribbeans. It is in the DNA of multicultural policies.”

[…]

From Fatwa to Jihad tells, for the most part brilliantly, this baleful tale. Malik is well-placed to do so. He was born in India and came to Britain at the age of five. His mother was Hindu and his father Muslim, but he did not have a religious upbringing. Racism, not religion, formed his early radicalism as it did that of many non-whites in this country.

Commonweal – A review of religion, politics and culture

Why are the most unlikely people, including myself, suddenly talking about God? Who would have expected theology to rear its head once more in the technocratic twenty-first century, almost as surprisingly as some mass revival of Zoroastrianism? Why is it that my local bookshop has suddenly sprouted a section labeled “Atheism,” hosting anti-God manifestos by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and others, and might even now be contemplating another marked “Congenital Skeptic with Mild Baptist Leanings”? Why, just as we were confidently moving into a posttheological, postmetaphysical, even posthistorical era, has the God question broken out anew?

Thierry Chervel: Submission in advance – signandsight

At the high point of the dispute over the cartoons, the Dutch politicican Ayaan Hirsi Ali came to Berlin, of all places, to give a speech defending the rights of the cartoonists. She herself pointed out the connection between the two totalitarianisms. As a dissident Muslim, she used the example of Eastern European dissidence which was rewarded with the collapse of the Wall. But her gesture was not understood. Essentially, what happened to her was worse than what had happened to Rushdie, who was at least defended and protected. In 2004 a young extremist named Bouyeri assassinated the filmmaker Theo van Gogh who, together with Hirsi Ali, had made the film “Submission”. Bouyeri thrust a dagger into van Gogh’s chest, to which was attached a note: “I know, oh Ayaan Hirsi Ali, that you shall go under / I know, oh fundamentalists of unbelief, that you shall go down.” These words got around.

Writers like Ian Buruma and Timothy Garton Ash took them up and amplified them, half-consciously, half-unconsciously, equating the “fundamentalists of the Enlightenment” with Islamic fundamentalists. Garton Ash later recanted. What remained was the insistence by Hirsi Ali’s opponents that her activities were useless, that her intransigence was itself driving Muslims into a corner, that her denial of the faith meant she represented nothing and thus was unable to contribute to the integration of Muslims into Western society. Tariq Ramadan was the man to listen to, they said. Hirsi Ali was threatened with losing her Dutch citizenship. She left for the United States whereupon the Dutch government stopped paying for her security. Cassandra doesn’t live here anymore. God is great.

The European Left cried no tears for her. She had long been decried as a useful idiot of reactionary forces. In a striking parallel to the fate of many ex-Communist dissidents, Hirsi Ali found no home on the Left. Rushdie, too, had to admit that he had been mistaken. In his “Satanic Verses” he had declared that the war on racism in Britain, on Hindu nationalism in India, on Islamism, was part of the Left’s greater purpose. But he was doubly mistaken: Islamism has a universalist thrust which makes it more dangerous than mere xenophobia. Yet the Left prefers battling Islamic dissidents to fighting Islamism.

One World, Under God – The Atlantic (April 2009)

For all the advances and wonders of our global era, Christians, Jews, and Muslims seem ever more locked in mortal combat. But history suggests a happier outcome for the Peoples of the Book. As technological evolution has brought communities, nations, and faiths into closer contact, it is the prophets of tolerance and love that have prospered, along with the religions they represent. Is globalization, in fact, God’s will?

Heirs to Fortuyn? – WSJ.com

For much of the American left, Western Europe was nothing less than an abstract symbol of progressive utopia.
[City Journal]

This rosy view was never accurate, of course. Europe’s socialized health care was blighted by outrageous (and sometimes deadly) waiting lists and rationing, to name just one example.

[…]Deborah Scroggins wrote in The Nation in 2005 that “Muslims make up only 5.5 percent of the Dutch population, but they account for more than half the women in battered women’s shelters.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-Dutch advocate for democracy and women’s rights, would no doubt say far more than half: When she was working with women in Dutch shelters, she writes, “there were hardly any white women” in them, “only women from Morocco, from Turkey, from Afghanistan—Muslim countries—alongside some Hindu women from Surinam.” When she and filmmaker Theo van Gogh tried to highlight the mistreatment of women under Islam in the 2004 film “Submission: Part I,” he was killed by a young Muslim extremist.

[…]Yet despite these disavowals, American media have routinely echoed the leftist establishment’s unjust calumnies.

A seminal example was a March 2002 New York Times article by Marlise Simons about Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch politician who, according to the article’s headline, was “Proudly Gay, and Marching the Dutch to the Right.” Though Ms. Simons acknowledged that Fortuyn criticized Islam because it offered “no equality for men and women and because . . . the imams here preach in offensive terms about gays,” she nonetheless echoed the Dutch establishment’s characterization of him as a menace to Dutch values, making sure to mention that he had been widely compared with Mussolini and Haider. A few weeks later, Fortuyn was murdered by an environmental fanatic taken in by similar claptrap.

[…]

Who will win the war for the soul of Western Europe? The Islamofascists and their multiculturalist appeasers, many of whom seem to believe that their job is not to defend democracy but to help make the transition to Shariah as smooth as possible? The nativist cryptofascists? Or Pim Fortuyn’s freedom-loving heirs? Interestingly, while Western Europeans have been heading in one direction, Americans have chosen to go the other way, replacing a president more loathed by the European elite than any in history with a man whom the same elite has celebrated to an unprecedented degree, often depicting his election as a mystical act of atonement for all of America’s past sins, real or imagined.

The final question, then, is whether the Western European left’s condescension toward America, and the American left’s habit of holding Western Europe up as a socialist paradise, can survive the combination of Europe’s right turn and the elevation of Barack Obama.

Mr. Bawer is the author of the upcoming “Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom.” He blogs at brucebawer.com.

Roxana Saberi
Full transcript of NPR News interview with Roxana Saberi | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

MS. BLOCK: I interviewed your father back in April, while you were still in prison, and he told me that you had made statements under pressure – under threat – while you were being held in Evin prison. Was that the case, and if that was the case, what did you confess to under duress?

MS. SABERI: That was the case. As has been seen in the past, one of the ways that people get out of these kinds of situations is to make a confession, and even be videotaped making this confession, even if this confession is false. And so, under pressure, I did the same thing. After I realized that nobody knew where I was, I was very afraid, and my interrogators threatened me and said, if you don’t confess to being a U.S. spy, you could be here for many years – 10 years or 20 years, or you could even face execution.

And I thought, well, if something happens to me, my family doesn’t know where I am, maybe they would never find out. And so I made a false confession and I said yes, I’m a U.S. spy. But because my conscience got the better of me and the god that I believe in – the god that I thought had abandoned me when I was first imprisoned – I realized, was always with me. And I realized that he was not pleased with what I had done by making this false confession. I recanted my confession, knowing full well that I would jeopardize my freedom.

And indeed, that’s what happened

Misc.
Israel moves closer to banning mourning of its independence – Haaretz – Israel News

Israel moves closer to banning mourning of its independence
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israeli Arabs

Public commemoration of Israel’s independence as a day of mourning could become a crime subject to prison penalty, should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved a preliminary proposal which would make it illegal to hold events or ceremonies marking Israel’s Independence Day as a “nakba,” or catastrophe.

Rather than holding barbecues and parades on Independence Day, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians usually take the day to commemorate the dispersal of Palestinians during the 1948 War of Independence.

An unusual couple, an unlikely marriage – The Globe and Mail

An unusual couple, an unlikely marriage

Young groom’s passion for researching terrorism brought him into the Khadr family

From Friday’s Globe and Mail, Saturday, May. 23, 2009

They are among the most unusual of couples. Joshua Boyle, 25, is the son of a tax judge whose empty home was shot up. Zaynab Khadr, 29, is the sister of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr – and Osama bin Laden attended her first wedding in Afghanistan a decade ago.

The divorced single mom and the research fanatic met over the Internet – their mutual interests in Wikipedia and the war on terror helping them stake out common ground. This year they married – quietly – but their romance was propelled into the public eye after thieves fired several .22-calibre bullets into the groom’s family home.

Now, they talk about their marriage, the break-in and overcoming prejudice – including a suspicion that Mr. Boyle is a spy. A rally outside an abortion clinic, they said, also helped bring them together.

Detainee Who Gave False Iraq Data Dies In Prison in Libya – washingtonpost.com

Detainee Who Gave False Iraq Data Dies In Prison in Libya

A former CIA high-value detainee, who provided bogus information that was cited by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war, has died in a Libyan prison, an apparent suicide, according to a Libyan newspaper.

A researcher for Human Rights Watch, who met Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi at the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli late last month, said a contact in Libya had confirmed the death.

Libi was captured fleeing Afghanistan in late 2001, and he vanished into the secret detention system run by the Bush administration. He became the unnamed source, according to Senate investigators, behind Bush administration claims in 2002 and 2003 that Iraq had provided training in chemical and biological weapons to al-Qaeda operatives. The claim was most famously delivered by then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in his address to the United Nations in February 2003.

Dutch International
Dutch liberal leader: Holocaust denial should not be a crime – Haaretz – Israel News

Dutch liberal leader: Holocaust denial should not be a crime
By Cnaan Liphshiz

A proposal to decriminalize Holocaust denial in the Netherlands by the leader of the Dutch liberal party touched off controversy in the party on Wednesday and drew criticism from prominent Jewish figures and from the political establishment.

Dutch-Jewish poet masks Israeli roots to win Arab prize – Haaretz – Israel News

Dutch-Jewish poet masks Israeli roots to win Arab prize
By Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent

One name sticks out from the list of winners in the prestigious El Hizjra poetry competition intended for Dutch Arabs, which was announced two weeks ago – Tuvit Shlomi, press officer for Holland’s largest Zionist group.

Dutch firebrand aims to bring down European parliament | My Sinchew

Wilders faces a trial at home for his anti-Islam utterings and was recently barred from entering Britain to stop him spreading “hatred and violent messages,” particulary in his movie “Fitna” in which he said Islam was fascist.

But he is at the height of its popularity at home and the PVV hopes to take up to four of the 25 Dutch seats in the 736 member EU assembly, despite advocating its demise.

He declared in a recent newspaper interview that he wants “to bring it down from inside.”

“Wilders holds up Europe, Islam and immigration as evils,” political analyst Alfred Pijpers said, recalling how Dutch voters rejected a proposed European constitution in a 2005 referendum.

Dutch
‘In islam is niet alles zo zwart-wit als in de Koran’ – Roosendaal – Regio – bndestem

Is een islamitische slager een ander soort ondernemer dan een katholieke slager?

Voor het antwoord op die vraag heeft Gerard de Winter uit Roosendaal een boek geschreven: ‘Maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen vanuit een islamitisch perspectief’. Het boek is het resultaat van een onderzoek van De Winter in het kader van zijn studie Religiewetenschappen aan de Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen. “Ik ben die studie begonnen uit nieuwsgierigheid naar de invloed van religie op mens en maatschappij. Tegelijkertijd houd ik me in mijn werk als marketing-adviseur bezig met maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen. Die twee dingen heb ik in mijn onderzoek samengebracht en dan toegespitst op de invloed van de islam. Ook om eens op een andere manier een duit in het zakje te doen over al die discussies over de islam.”
Zie ook:
* ‘Als moslim verkoop ik geen drank’

Nieuwwij.nl: De boeddhaïsering van Nederland

Theo Salemink is universitair docent Geschiedenis van kerk en maatschappij in de negentiende en twintigste eeuw aan de Universiteit van Tilburg. Samen met Marcel Poorthuis schreef hij Lotus in de Lage Landen. De geschiedenis van het Boeddhisme in Nederland. Beeldvorming van 1840 tot heden. Ze kregen voor dit boek de Gouden erepenning van het Teylers Godgeleerd Genootschap 2009.

Door: Fatiha Bazi

Uw boek Lotus in de Lage Landen laat een kleurrijk overzicht zien van hoe het boeddhisme vanaf de negentiende eeuw voet aan wal krijgt in Nederland. Kunt u kort vertellen hoe het beeld van Boeddha door de jaren heen is veranderd?

If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE.

0 comments.

The power of images – Muslima ads

Posted on May 29th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues.

The Dutch province Overijssel has started a new campaign in which it puts the spotlight on the (indeed beautiful) landscape of Overijssel. On the front page of the website it says: See. The landscape is in you. And then below: A beautiful landscape. See, that is what the province Overijssel would like to devote itself to:

Public campaign of Dutch province Overijssel

Now there are more people you can see on that website than the ones on the screenshot above but I would like to have your attention for the girl at the right: the one with the headscarf. Just like the other people she also features in the public campaigns on billboards:

Girl on billboard in Overijssel

And her picture has raised some eyebrows as we can read now in the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf. Their story is based upon a story of the Dutch magazine Elsevier. Someone has put a sticker on the billboard saying: Overijssel…is not Islamic. According to some anonymous complaints at Elsevier the campaign “lacks respect“. “What has Overijssel got to do with Islam? In particular when it concerns the landscape and culture of Overijssel“. According to a spokesperson of the province they received several other negative reactions about the campaign as a result of the girl’s picture on a brochure people received in their mail boxes. ‘We received about twenty critical reactions’ a spokesperson said. ‘We explain these people the persons featuring in this campaign are not models but actual residents of the province. Also the lady with the headscarf lives in Overijssel. Then they understand.’ Earlier, according to Elsevier, also a poster from telephone provider Ben with a Muslim woman with headscarf, was the target of the same action.

I don’t really know how big this anti-islam action really is nor do I know how many companies or local or national institutions use Muslims in their campaigns. It is certainly not the first time that it caused a (minor) debate. Last year the SNS Bank had a campaign in which we would see a woman with a headscarf.

Dutch Arabist Hans Jansen, known for his hostile views and distortions about Islam, complained at the bank stating that the type of headscarf of the woman refers to a non-liberal version of Islam (he also complained about ‘an Arab looking guy with a Muslim extremist beard’ who showed his feet which is ‘a standard insult in the Islamic world’.

Campaign 2008 SNS Bank

In the case of the province of Overijssel the decision to include to Muslim woman has probably to do with sending a message to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Muslims are part of the local community. In the case of the SNS Bank it is probably about appealing to a wider audience and potential customers. In both cases this might lead to a normalization of Muslims in the public landscape and I think a lot of the complaints against the campaigns are complaints against the normalization of Muslims in the public landscape. Some people don’t want Muslims or Islam to be part of the Dutch culture. Muslims do feature in public campaigns for a long time now but usually related to some exotic (halal) product or to some campaign related to integration of migrants or campaigns designed to promote social cohesion and public safety. The fact that they now appear in other type of (commercial) ads might indeed lead to further normalization. Nevertheless, there is something that troubles me about these ads. And that is in fact the headscarf. I’m not troubled about the fact that some Muslim women wear a headscarf, but I’m troubled about the fact that Muslim women in public campaigns always seems to wear a headscarf. Same thing seems to happen when you search for pictures of “Muslim woman” in Google images. On the first page you only see woman who, in different ways, covered themselves. With three exceptions. One Muslim woman who designs ‘decent garments for Muslim women’ and two models (one miss). This reminds me of something that Lila Abu-Lughod has written about in the Power of images and the danger of pity:

Eurozine – The Muslim woman – Lila Abu-Lughod The power of images and the danger of pity

one of the most distinctive qualities of representations – literary and scholarly – of the Muslim “East” has been their citationary nature. What he meant by this is that later works gain authority by citing earlier ones, referring to each other in an endless chain that has no need for the actualities of the Muslim East. We can see this even today in visual representations of the Muslim woman. I have been collecting such images for years, ones that reveal clearly the citationary quality of images of “the Muslim woman”. The most iconic are those I think of as studies in black and white. One finds, for example, impenetrable Algerian women shrouded in ghostly white in the French colonial postcards from the 1930s that Malek Alloula analyzes in his book, The Colonial Harem.[3] This kind of photography, Alloula argues, was dedicated to making Algerian women accessible, if only symbolically, to French soldiers, tourists, and the people back home. And then one finds in the late 1990s covers of American media, even highbrow, such as the New York Times Magazine or the Chronicle of Higher Education, that similarly depict women whose faces are hidden and bodies covered in white or pale Islamic modest dress. These are women from Jordan or Egypt whose lives and situations are radically unlike those of women in colonial Algeria, and unlike many other women in their own countries. One also finds in Alloula’s book of postcards images of women dressed dramatically in black, with only eyes showing. Again, almost identical images appear on the covers of the New York Times Magazine and even KLM Magazine from 1990 to the present, despite the fact that the articles they are linked to are on different countries: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen. There is an amazing uniformity.

As she rightly points out, these images do not in any way reflect the variety of styles (and the meaning of that) of women’s dress. To what extent is that a problem? As Abu-Lughod explains:
Eurozine – The Muslim woman – Lila Abu-Lughod The power of images and the danger of pity

There are several problems with these uniform and ubiquitous images of veiled women. First, they make it hard to think about the Muslim world without thinking about women, creating a seemingly huge divide between “us” and “them” based on the treatment or positions of women. This prevents us from thinking about the connections between our various parts of the world, helping setting up a civilizational divide. Second, they make it hard to appreciate the variety of women’s lives across the Muslim or Middle Eastern worlds – differences of time and place and differences of class and region. Third, they even make it hard for us to appreciate that veiling itself is a complex practice. Let me take a little time over this third point. It is common knowledge that the ultimate sign of the oppression of Afghani women under the Taliban-and-the-terrorists is that they were forced to wear the burqa. Liberals sometimes confess their surprise that even though Afghanistan has been liberated from the Taliban, women do not seem to be throwing off their burqas. Someone like me, who has worked in Muslim regions, asks why this is so surprising. Did we expect that once “free” from the Taliban they would go “back” to belly shirts and blue jeans, or dust off their Chanel suits?

Always using veiled women in public campaigns (no matter how well intended they are) might in fact not lead to normalizing Islam and Muslim women. It does not do any justice to the diversity among these women and in fact sets them apart from other people. This tendency is even stronger because no other women from migrant groups are displayed with a religious symbol. We do occasionally see black women, Hindustani women but only in ethnic and integrations campaigns we may see them with religious symbols (and even then on very rare occasions). Of course, Hindu women or black women are not the focus for the integration debates; its the Muslims. But then only using Muslim women again singles them out as category of people ‘we’ have some issues with and moreover a specific type of Muslim woman: the ones with the headscarf. Are the ones without a headscarf not really Muslim? Or not really modest Muslims? Are these campaign designers not creative enough to come up with something else? They problably designed it knowing/hoping it would appeal? Why would they think that? And in these cases it did appeal in a particular way. What does this mean? Again, the image of the Muslims woman, the way the appear in public and her type of dress in public is one of the battle grounds on which the integration struggle takes place.

3 comments.

Double Dutch

Posted on May 29th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

It is 400 years ago that the first Dutch people founded New Amsterdam, the place that is currently known as Manhattan. Interesting is that also the Belgians (source in Dutch) now claim that they were the first settles. The first Dutch colonists crossing the ocean were indeed people from what is now known as Belgium (the modern nation state Belgium exists since 1830) and more in particular the french speaking part of Belgium, from the city of Henegouwen. Two of the most well known people were Joris Rapalje (a last name that has a very negative meaning in Dutch) and Catalina Trico from that part of Belgium. Notwithstanding this countercampaign from the Belgians the Dutch managed to set up several exhibitions and public campaigns celebrating the establishment of New-Amsterdam. Also the American press has some coverage. Russel Shorto who writes for the New York Times magazine has written a book called The Island at the Center of the World on the history of Manhattan’s founding. He argues in this book is that the Dutch founding of Manhattan
Books by Russell Shorto

seeded not only New York’s immigrant culture, but America’s melting pot.

Thank you very much mr. Shorto. He also has written a very positive article in the New York Times:
Going Dutch – How I Learned to Love the European Welfare State. – NYTimes.com

PICTURE ME, IF YOU WILL, as I settle at my desk to begin my workday, and feel free to use a Vermeer image as your template. The pale-yellow light that gives Dutch paintings their special glow suffuses the room. The interior is simple, with high walls and beams across the ceiling. The view through the windows of the 17th-century house in which I have my apartment is of similarly gabled buildings lining the other side of one of Amsterdam’s oldest canals. Only instead of a plump maid or a raffish soldier at the center of the canvas, you should substitute a sleep-rumpled writer squinting at a laptop.

But not everyone is happy about this article. For example Dutch Heleen Mees, who lives and works in New York, wrote a letter to the editor:
Letters to the Editor – Going Dutch? Not So Fast – NYTimes.com

In his essay “Warming to the European way” (May 2), Russell Shorto sounds the praises of the Dutch welfare state. However, the Dutch welfare state isn’t as beneficial to low-skilled immigrants as it is to high-skilled workers like Mr. Shorto. In fact, it has suffocated the large group of non-Western immigrants who came to the Netherlands over the past decades to seek their fortune.

This little controversy has reached a few Dutch blogs by now:”>Obama Obama » Hollands Glorie potverdorie

Denk nu niet dat de VS ineens vol zijn van Nederland. Het stuk was (voorzover ik kon nagaan) niet op het televisienieuws. En het conservatisme mag dan krimpen, het is niet verdwenen. Dus zo goed als Nederland wordt bewonderd in dit land, zo goed wordt erop neergekeken.

And also a conservative Dutch man living in the US:
DUTCH WELFARE STATE: “THE TIMES” PRAISES; THE DUTCH FLEE

But Shorto does not describe in detail issues that are well worth talking about: welfare state overreach, the Dutch approach towards multiculturalism and the Dutch approach towards crime. All three are highly relevant to understanding a growing sense of disillusionment in Dutch society and a rising enthusiasm for emigration.

But also beyond the Dutch blogosphere there has been some attention, for example by one of my favorite writeres Ezra Klein:
EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect

Tax quibbles aside, Russell Shorto’s explanation of how he stopped worrying and learned to love the European welfare state is nicely done. The answer is pretty simple: He started to like the welfare state when he began to receive its services. This, incidentally, is the sort of thing that conservatives worry about quite publicly in the United States. When Ben Nelson says he’ll oppose the public plan because “at the end of the day, the public plan wins the game,” he’s gesturing towards this point.

Now it is not up to me to decide who is wrong and why so. More interesting is what these articles together reveal about contemporary Dutch society. Is it a coincidence almost all reactions focus on the welfare state, crime, political intolerance and multiculturalism? These are, certainly not only from an American perspective, the most important issues that divide Dutch society nowadays, in particular political parties and opinion leaders. In particular multiculturalism, tolerance and more specifically Islam have been major fault lines in Dutch society starting from the 1990s onwards but with increasing speed and intensity from 9/11 and the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004 in such a way that it can only be characterized as an Islam neuroticism; a situation wherein a society has an enduring tendency to experience and express emotional states (such as anxiety, anger, depression) in everything (remotely) related to Islam and/or Muslims and whereby ordinary situations appear as threatening and demanding immediate, quick and hard reactions. A neuroticism sometimes fed by political and religious elites but also abound on the internet on weblogs and webfora.

Also interesting of course is that both the Dutch and Belgians want to celebrate the event of establishing New Amsterdam. Of coursre understandable because New York is probably one of the most interesting, well known cities carrying a lot of symbolic value. Who doesn’t want to be the founder of that? For both the US and the Netherlands (ok and Belgium too) it seems to have become an event celebrating their self-proclaimed image of progress, pioneership, entrepeneurship, tolerance and (delusions of) grandeur. But is there also some attention for the negative aspects of our past? Except in the book The Forgotten History written by Dutch historian Geert Mak and Russell Shorto, there is not a lot of attention in the program for issues such as slave trade and the relationships with the native Americans. Also in the Dutch coverage of this event I have seen no reference to those issue yet. Yes, it seems that both the slaves and the native Americans were better off with the Dutch than with the English, but that does not mean we are fully exonerated. At one point the Native Americans were seen as ‘obstacles to European settlement‘ resulting in some brutal campaigns against the Native Americans. And what about buying a piece of land for 60 guilders in goods (beads, buttons and other trinkets) from people that did not realize that the transaction was for permanent possession (since the concept of alienable real estate was unfamiliar) of the land and even if they knew that, it in no way reflected the value of the goods that the Native Americans received. Moreover the deal was closed with the Canarsee tribe who hunted on the land but did have no rights on the island (the Weckquaesgeeks who did live there, were not consulted). The Dutch (and later English) colonists built the city’s local economy around supplying ships for the trade in slaves and in what slaves produced. Slaves did a lot of work in creating a major port city, they built Fort Amsterdam (Battery Park) and cut the road we now know as Broadway. I don’t want to spoil the party, but could we please consider taking this into account as well. Or, if this already done and I couldn’t find it, let me know.

Ow and this also Double Dutch (with Malcom McLaren, yes the one and only)

3 comments.

Stay organized: Tools for research and teaching

Posted on May 24th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Research Tools.

When doing research one of the most difficult tasks is preventing information overload. There are so many interesting aspects in your own research (of course my research is the most interesting in the whole world…) that you want to include as much as possible and you don’t want to miss anything. I think my own PhD research consisted of about 2000 pages with interviews, 1000 pages with notes and another 1000 pages with newspaper articles, webentries and so on. And lets not forget about the enormous amount of literature out there. It seems like everyday a journal on Islam, Muslims and youth (or a combination of that) is appearing. It is impossible to keep track of it all and even the ones you did read, you have to ‘store’ them in an efficient and effective way. There are several things you can use to create and maintain some order in the chaos.

There are several products for analyzing text, audio, video and pictorial data. The two most well-known are:

ATLAS.ti is a computer software used mostly, although not exclusively, in qualitative data research and analysis.

NVivo 7 (also known as NUD*IST) is a project management software that can be used in qualitative data research and analysis.

I use Atlas.ti because in particular the latest release is very easy and intuitive to use; not only for text analysis but also for audio and video. In addition to that you can use several other programs.

Mind mapping is probably one the most well known software applications to use, but be careful:
How to get the most out of topic notes in your mind maps – Mind Mapping Software Blog

Topic notes are an essential tool for helping to prevent information overload. Because they are normally hidden from view, they are a great place to store extended information that would otherwise be crowded into your mind map. As a form of visual diagramming, mind mapping was never designed to support more than a word or two per topic. Placing five words, or 20, or 50 any map topic results in a map that is almost unreadable. Notes enable you to create a very concise topic name, and then to capture all of the other important information in a note.

A good alternative is also the free Compendium:
Compendium Institute

Compendium is about sharing ideas, creating artifacts, making things together, and breaking down the boundaries between dialogue, artifact, knowledge, and data.

I use the latter two in particular for more concrete tasks such as writing a paper or an article (as a preparation for that) or just for an in between analysis of particular events when I’m confused about the actual meaning of it or about how the event did evolve).

When doing research is can be useful to create your own databases. There are probably many out there that are very good, but I’m very satisfied with Zoho Creator:
Online Database Software, Create Online Database Applications, Web-based: Zoho Creator

Database software to create online database applications

Perhaps in the future you will find such a database attached to this site.

Also very good, but then in particular for teaching is Polity’s website Digital Media and Society. It could be a commercial entreprise this site, but when you are interested in all resources, syllabi and literature on digital media and/in society this can really help you.
Digital Media and Society

This site has been created to support and supplement this series of cutting edge books from Polity on new technologies. It also aims to provide a new space online where those with an interest in the relationship between these new technologies and society can share views, resources and queries. We hope not only that you will find the information here helpful and stimulating, but that you will bookmark this site and return to it frequently, as both a contributor to the site and a consumer of it.

All these programs of course do not mean that you don’t have to do anything anymore. Perhaps more important than as a means to organize your material, these programs when used frequently make it easy for you (or even force you to) organize yourself.

0 comments.

Closing the week 21

Posted on May 24th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere.

Closer
Most popular on this site during the last week:

1. Een impressie van het Nationaal Islam Congres
2. Islamizing Europe: Muslim Demographics

If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE.

International (English)

Research
The virginity fetish | Salon Life

The virginity fetish

Why is our culture so obsessed with girls’ chastity? Author Jessica Valenti talks about how purity balls and “barely legal” porn both feed the same idea: That a woman’s worth is between her legs.

By Tracy Clark-Flory

Ghodsee, K.: Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria.

Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe examines how gender identities were reconfigured in a Bulgarian Muslim community following the demise of Communism and an influx of international aid from the Islamic world. Kristen Ghodsee conducted extensive ethnographic research among a small population of Pomaks, Slavic Muslims living in the remote mountains of southern Bulgaria. After Communism fell in 1989, Muslim minorities in Bulgaria sought to rediscover their faith after decades of state-imposed atheism. But instead of returning to their traditionally heterodox roots, isolated groups of Pomaks embraced a distinctly foreign type of Islam, which swept into their communities on the back of Saudi-financed international aid to Balkan Muslims, and which these Pomaks believe to be a more correct interpretation of their religion.

Ghodsee explores how gender relations among the Pomaks had to be renegotiated after the collapse of both Communism and the region’s state-subsidized lead and zinc mines. She shows how mosques have replaced the mines as the primary site for jobless and underemployed men to express their masculinity, and how Muslim women have encouraged this as a way to combat alcoholism and domestic violence. Ghodsee demonstrates how women’s embrace of this new form of Islam has led them to adopt more conservative family roles, and how the Pomaks’ new religion remains deeply influenced by Bulgaria’s Marxist-Leninist legacy, with its calls for morality, social justice, and human solidarity.

Kristen Ghodsee is associate professor of gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College. She is the author of The Red Riviera: Gender, Tourism, and Postsocialism on the Black Sea. You can listen to her public lecture Headscarves and Hotpants: Islam, Secularism and Women’s Fashion in Southeastern Europe HERE.

Springer Science+Business Media : News

Children’s moral behavior and attitudes in the real world largely carry over to the virtual world of computers, the Internet, video games and cell phones. Interestingly, there are marked gender and race differences in the way children rate morally questionable virtual behaviors, according to Professor Linda Jackson and her team from Michigan State University in the US. Their research1 is the first systematic investigation of the effects of gender and race on children’s beliefs about moral behavior, both in the virtual world and the real world, and the relationship between the two. The study was published online in Springer’s journal, Sex Roles.

Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation: Part 3 « Nuseiba

So consumer capitalism has adapted the most challenging propositions of the Other’s culture and reconstituted it as an empty, fashion shell. But since Dick Hebdidge in Subculture, the Meaning of Style in 1979 it was clear that contemporary audiences use and can subvert mass culture for their ends. Representations can be excorporated into the marginal. The oppressed have always resisted, have ‘poached’ on the domains of the powerful and reworked the dominant culture for their own ends. Popular culture (rather than mass) is always a culture of conflict, it always involves the struggle to make social meanings that are in the interests of the subordinate and that are not those preferred by the dominant ideology. Popular culture is the culture of the subordinate who resent their subordination.

Rethinking Jihad 2009 Conference

The Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW), led by Dr Elisabeth Kendall, is holding an international conference to unravel and re-construct the concept of jihad in all its aspects. The conference will seek to improve our understanding of ‘jihad’ through the work of highly qualified academics and intellectuals who aim to free ‘jihad’ from the stereotyping currently exploited to serve violence, oppression and media sensationalism. In addition to securing the agreement of several leading international intellectuals to give keynote addresses during the course of the three day conference, well over 100 academics and intellectuals, keen to explore the thorny issue of ‘jihad’, responded to our call for papers. This scale of response indicates both the need and the will to discuss jihad in all its aspects as a crucial yet misunderstood concept in today’s society.

Conference Rationale and Description

Much like ‘fatwa’ the term ‘jihad’ has come to be used as a byword for fanaticism and Islam’s implacable hostility toward the West. But like other religious and political concepts, jihad has multiple resonances and associations, its meaning shifting over time and varying from place to place. Jihad has referred to movements of internal reform, spiritual struggle, and self-defence as much as, if not more than, to ‘holy war’. Jihad, moreover, reflects principles and concerns by no means unique to Islam. Among Muslim intellectuals, as well as others concerned with the Arab and Islamic worlds, the meaning and significance of jihad remains subject to debate and controversy. Too often the diversity and sophistication of debate in the region, as well as scholarship on the religion, politics and history of the Arab and Islamic worlds stands in stark contrast to the crude generalisations found in the media.

To address the problems of simplification and essentialisation that characterise much current discourse on Islam and the Arab world, particularly when it comes to conceptions of jihad as evidence of a peculiarly Islamic predilection for violence and warfare, the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW) is convening a major international conference on ‘re-thinking’ jihad. The conference brings together academics from around the world to shed light on some of jihad’s manifold dimensions, enactments and interpretations. It will include keynote addresses from leading experts on Middle Eastern and Islamic history, politics, theology and society. These accomplished speakers will address, and put into context, broad issues pertinent to the subject of jihad. The keynote addresses will be interspersed with panel discussions that will examine specific themes in more detail. The panels will showcase cutting-edge research on the topic of jihad by scholars from across five continents.

Western feminists don’t understand Muslim Women

Historically, calls for liberation have often created circumstances that are worse for women. Oxfam released a study earlier this year reporting that Iraqi women’s conditions have qualitatively deteriorated since the U.S. invasion. While I’m sure this wasn’t in the grand feminist plan for Iraqi women, the reality is that sweeping numbers of them are widowed, unemployed, and subject to brutalities at the hands of sectarian gangs and occupying forces.

Non-Muslim feminist misunderstandings don’t just affect women in predominately Muslim countries. They affect Muslim women living in the West, too. When France proposed a ban on religious symbols in schools, specifically targeting the hijab, French feminists were completely onboard, dismissing the hijab as a symbol of oppression that no Muslim girl would wear willingly. But the ban has systematically denied schooling to girls who wear hijab. Demanding a girl choose between her school and her traditions is a surefire way to keep her down. Many girls choose the latter.

The truth is, many feminist Muslim organizations are already hard at work.

Gender & Religion
Maghreb Arabe Presse: Mourchidates, pioneering experience in the region

Mourchidates, pioneering experience in the region
Washington – Participants in a meeting on “Our Families, Our Faiths, & Our Futures,” held, here Wednesday, hailed the experience of Moroccan women religious councilors, known as Mourchidates, describing the initiative as a unique and pioneering experience in the region.

Folio » Cup of tea?

Yes, and as I remembered that our blessed Prophet, peace be upon him, mended his own clothes, a habit that even the most enlightened Westerner would still consider women’s work. A poor husband feels oppressed because a wife will not respond with a cup of tea when he asks for one. For crying out loud, man, do it yourself. And while you’re at it, offer to make her one too.

Rotterdam to prevent forced marriage < | Expatica The Netherlands

Girls who are concerned they may be forced into an arranged marriage can express their concerns with the school. Before they go away, the girls can sign a contract stating they do not want to marry.

If the girls fail to return at the end of the summer, the Dutch police will be notified immediately.

Religion & Politics
World Bulletin [ Myanmar-expelled Rohingya Muslims move to Bangladesh ]

Myanmar-expelled Rohingya Muslims move to Bangladesh
Local residents said about 1,000 Rohingya Muslims entered Bangladesh in just the past three days, saying increased persecution by Myanmar’s military junta.

German Muslim community split over co-ed swimming classes | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 21.05.2009

A court in the western city of Muenster has ruled that Muslim girls at elementary schools in Germany must attend mixed swimming classes with boys, rejecting a request from the parents of a nine-year-old girl for her to be excused from the lessons.

The parents from the industrial city of Gelsenkirchen told the school authorities that they lived strictly to the teachings of the Koran, adding that they found mixed swimming “immoral”.

“Protective” suit

The administrative court said, however, that the girl could protect her modesty by wearing a full-length bathing suit dubbed a “burkini.”

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Legal limbo for Tajik Islamic brides

[…]he is not obliged to pay her any alimony or child support because her marriage, like many in Tajikistan, was conducted according to Islamic rites and was never officially registered.

It is estimated that up to 30% of all marriages in Tajikistan are unregistered.

You hardly ever see one, but the veil debate is back

You hardly ever see one, but the veil debate is back
Quebecers harbour strong emotions about women who wear the veil
JANET BAGNALL, The Gazette

In fact, a person in Canada, Australia, Britain and the United States could go an entire lifetime without seeing a Muslim woman whose face is covered with a veil. Yet the right to wear a veil – or not – this year alone has been the subject of court cases in Canada and the U.S. and heated controversy elsewhere.

Religion & Popular Culture
TheStar.com | World | Islamic Idol lets pop fans keep the faith

Flames burst from the stage for a grand entrance, and fake fog swirls around a young man in a white robe. He clutches the microphone, gazes seriously into the camera and then, accompanied only by drums, he sings.

“I accept Allah as my God, His religion as my religion, and His messenger as my messenger,” he intones, as the audience, divided into men’s and women’s sections, claps along with the rhythm.

The singer is a contestant on a new Islamic version of American Idol, launched to promote and drum up talent for the Arab world’s first Islamic pop music video channel.

Blogosphere
The Carnival is Here: White Privilege and The Ummah « Rolling Ruminations

My intention behind this carnival, for the sake of Allah of course, was to initiate some dialogue about race related issues within the Ummah focusing specifically on white Muslim privilege. Problems stemming from racism, nationalism and privilege within the Ummah are not a secret, except maybe to new converts or newly transplanted Muslims, but in my experience I have only seen very, very little talk about these problems coming from white Muslims–and mostly is has revolved around implicating others. So, inshAllah, I hope that this carnival may be a starting point for white Muslims to begin self-critical affirmative efforts to better ourselves–because that is what we are supposed to do, for the sake of Allah.

Saudi Arabia to Regulate Kingdom-Based Websites Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Minister of Culture and Information, Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja revealed Saudi Arabia’s intention to enact laws, regulation, and legislation for newspapers and internet websites. The most important of the proposed legislation is for websites to require official licenses to be granted by a special agency under the purview of the Ministry of Information.

Wolfram|Alpha Blog : Wolfram|Alpha Is In Production!

Stephen Wolfram reminded us of his vision:

Fifty years ago, when computers were young, people assumed that they’d be able to ask a computer any factual question, and have it compute the answer. I’m happy to say that we’ve successfully built a system that delivers knowledge from a simple input field, giving access to a huge system, with trillions of pieces of curated data and millions of lines of algorithms. Wolfram|Alpha signals a new paradigm for using computers and the Web.

Dutch
AD.nl – Binnenland – Bos roept Wilders op tot debat

Bos roept Wilders op tot debat
HILVERSUM – PvdA-leider Wouter Bos wil graag met PVV-leider Geert Wilders in debat. Volgens Bos ontwijkt Wilders het debat.

AD.nl – Rotterdam – ‘Allochtonen: ga massaal stemmen!’

‘Allochtonen: ga massaal stemmen!’
Door ABDEL ILAH RUBIO
ROTTERDAM – De deelname van Geert Wilders aan de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen in Rotterdam zal tot een recordopkomst onder allochtone kiezers leiden.

Dat is de verwachting van verschillende migrantenorganisaties, die een grote campagne voorbereiden om zoveel mogelijk gekleurde Rotterdammers naar de stembus te lokken.

Nederlands Dagblad – Bolkestein: moslims geen recht op eigen scholen

,,Wij leven in een gelijkheidscultuur. Maar mensen zijn ongelijk. En godsdiensten ook.” Dat zegt VVD-prominent Frits Bolkestein zaterdag in een interview met het Nederlands Dagblad.

Volgens de liberaal is de vrijheid van onderwijs door jarenlange schoolstrijd nauw verweven met de Nederlandse samenleving. ,,Er is geen enkele reden om dat recht ook aan andere scholen zoals islamitische te gunnen.”

Regelzucht » Onze trotse moslims

Logisch dus, dat vooral migranten trots zijn op Groot-Brittannië, Duitsland en Nederland. Ze hebben er gewoon meer redenen voor. Het is even wennen voor Verdonk, maar daarna wil ze vast niets anders meer. Het verschil met de PVV is voor altijd duidelijk! Deze blije multiculti-praat wordt echter door twee uitkomsten van het Gallup-onderzoek pijnlijk doorkruist: negentig procent van de Britse moslims voelt zich niet geïntegreerd (Daily mail 8 mei) – je kunt blijkbaar wel trots maar toch niet thuis zijn. Daarnaast vindt niemand van de ondervraagde Britse Moslims homoseksualiteit moreel toelaatbaar. Dat laatst is koren op de molen van Wilders. Onmogelijk voor Verdonk om moslims in haar armen te sluiten.

Hoewel: het is maar waar je het mee vergelijkt. De Britse bevolking als geheel is ook erg homofoob. Meer dan de helft van de Britten vindt homoseksualiteit moreel ontoelaatbaar. In Nederland ligt dit heel anders. Slechts 11 procent van onze bevolking staat negatief tegenover homoseksualiteit (SCP 2006), tegenover de helft van de Nederlandse Moslims. Onze Moslims zijn ook in dit opzicht behoorlijk Nederlands: ze zijn positiever over homoseksualiteit dan de autochtone Britten.

Niet te snel juichen: nog steeds kunnen veel docenten tegenover Nederlandse moslims niet voor hun homoseksualiteit uitkomen. Maar toch is dit een opsteker voor al die politici, docenten, homo-organisaties, kunstenaars en wie niet al die de afgelopen jaren hun nek uitgestoken hebben om dit onderwerp onder de aandacht te brengen: zie hier hun succes.

‘Trots op Nederland?’, zou ik als nieuwe Nederlander zeggen: ‘Dat kunnen wij beter! Als we soms een inburgeringcursus moeten geven?’

Plan godslastering van tafel – DePers.nl

Het kabinet heeft zich vanochtend opnieuw gebogen over de verboden op godslastering en groepsbelediging. Volgens twee bronnen rond het kabinet zou minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin van Justitie (CDA) vanochtend voorstellen om godslastering toch strafbaar te laten. Hij zou dan geen uitbreiding van het beledigingsverbod meer willen.

Joods Actueel » Franse auteur “ontmaskert” Tariq Ramadan in nieuw boek

Ik ben inderdaad gay en feministe maar ook antiracist, ecologist… Vooral die twee laatste hebben mij gedreven om negen maanden lang te werken op die voordrachten en cassettes om eens en voor goed uit te maken of hij nu inderdaad een dubbel discours hanteert.

Tijdens deze enquêtes heb ik dikwijls zitten twijfelen, maar vandaag is mijn intieme overtuiging gevestigd en gestaafd door bewijzen: Tariq Ramadan is geen modernist maar een predikant die een modern en intellectueel discours gebruikt om een retrograde en onverdraagzame politieke islam te promoten.

Voor al wat dienen kan wil ik nog even preciseren dat ik naast mijn job van journaliste ook nog les geef bij Sciene-Po Paris, en dat de retoriek van Ramadan mij boeit omwille van haar complexiteit en ontzagwekkende handigheid.

Opzet van mijn boek is daarom het ontrafelen en niet het vereenvoudigen van die complexiteit. Wie het gelezen heeft zal daarvan oprecht kunnen getuigen. Het boek is nu beschikbaar in het Engels zodat iedereen er zich een opinie kan over vormen. Ik wel enkel nog preciseren dat in tegenstelling met wat Ramadan beweert, alle citaten uiteraard volledig juist zijn en steeds hun bron vermelden. Hij heeft mij trouwens nooit een proces aangedaan noch kunnen bewijzen dat één enkele van de aangehaalde citaten al was het maar verdraaid zou zijn.

Zijn belangrijkste tactiek bestaat uit een abstracte kritiek op mijn boek om daarna over te gaan tot algemeenheden waarbij hij valse citaten aanhaalt (die niet uit mijn boek of van mij komen) om ze schijnbaar te kunnen weerleggen. Zodoende kan hij wat tijd winnen, vooraleer de waarheid, zoals altijd, hem achterhaald.

De auteur is een Franse schrijfster, journaliste en redactrice van het tijdschrift Prochoix. Ze publiceerde in 2004 een grondige studie van de opvattingen van Tariq Ramadan onder de titel ‘Frère Tariq’ (Grasset) en in 2005 het boek ‘La tentation obscurantiste’ (Grasset).

Gouda zwijgt over agressie – Binnenland – Telegraaf.nl [24 uur actueel, ook mobiel] [binnenland]

Goudse beleidsmakers zwijgen over agressie
door Jenny van der Zijden
GOUDA, dinsdag – Goudse politieke partijen, politie, gemeente en andere instanties duiken massaal weg wanneer hen wordt gevraagd naar een mening over de Marokkanenproblematiek in deze stad. Jan Stikvoort, korpschef van politie Hollands Midden was gisteren zelfs helemaal niet bereikbaar voor commentaar omdat hij op werkbezoek is bij de politie in Polen.

0 comments.

Etnische diversiteit – de ironie van gelijkheid

Posted on May 22nd, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues.

EDIT: Titel van de entry is aangepast, zodat het beter de lading dekt en wat minder schreeuwerig is.

Op de hoogte blijven? Abonneer je dan op Closer: HIER.

Lida van den Broek studeerde organisatie antropologie aan de Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam. Zij is promovenda bij het departement sociale psychologie (prof. dr. Stapel) van de Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen (en gefinancierd door het onderzoeksinstituut TIBER) aan de UvT. Ze is directeur van Kantharos bureau voor multiculturele vraagstukken.
Volgende week vrijdag verdedigt ze haar proefschrift De ironie van gelijkheid. Over etnische diversiteit op de werkvloer. Kern van haar betoog is het paradoxale punt dat juist de ideologie van gelijkheid bijdraagt aan racisme op de werkvloer van bedrijven.

Bij de beoordeling van werkprestaties maakt het heel veel uit of je Peter of Najib heet. Ondanks het idee van tolerantie en gelijkheid in onze samenleving, verklaart bijna de helft van de Nederlandse allochtonen regelmatig gediscrimineerd te worden. Toch zegt drie kwart van de autochtonen geen bezwaar te hebben tegen een allochtone collega. Volgens onderzoekster Lida van den Broek veroorzaakt de heersende ideologie van gelijkheid ironisch genoeg alledaags racisme. Juist het aan de orde stellen van racisme is een taboe geworden.

Van den Broek deed onderzoek bij negen organisaties (profit en non-profit). In het experimentele onderzoek kregen respondenten een verhaal met vragen voorgelegd over een werknemer in een groot industrieel bedrijf. De naam van de werknemer was bij de helft van de respondenten Najib en bij de andere helft Peter. Dezelfde werkprestaties van Peter en Najib werden uiteindelijk verschillend beoordeeld. Als ze fouten maakten in hun werk, dan werd Najib vaker dom en ongeschikt gevonden dan Peter. Bovendien werden Najibs fouten hem persoonlijk aangerekend, terwijl wanneer Peter fouten maakte dat eerder aan de situatie toegeschreven werd. Wanneer Najib en Peter goed werk afleverden was het precies andersom. Uit een tweede experiment van Van den Broek blijkt dat de etnische ongelijke beoordeling ironisch genoeg vaker optreedt in een organisatie die gelijkheid nastreeft dan in organisaties waarin ruimte is voor verschillen.

Racisme wordt onzichtbaar gemaakt
De studie toont ook aan hoe alledaags racisme onzichtbaar wordt gemaakt. Dat gebeurt niet alleen door de autochtone Nederlanders; ook allochtone Nederlanders dragen daaraan bij, vaak omdat zij niet beschouwd willen worden als slachtoffer. Drie mechanismen die alledaags racisme onzichtbaar maken, worden aan de hand van de cases gedetailleerd beschreven:

1. In de eerste plaats selectieve waarneming: de selectie die we maken in wat we wel en niet (willen) zien.
2. Verder perceptuele vertekening: de betekenis die we geven aan wát we waarnemen.
3. En tenslotte: personificatie: het toeschrijven van wat we (willen) zien en de betekenis die we daaraan geven aan een persoon in plaats van aan de situatie of omstandigheden.

Deze drie mechanismen zorgen er voor dat alledaags racisme onzichtbaar wordt en dat stelt vervolgens mensen in staat te geloven dat racisme niet plaatsvindt.

Bron: UvT Persbericht – Ideologie van gelijkheid veroorzaakt dagelijks racisme op de werkvloer

Dit maakt het natuurlijk wel ingewikkeld. Een bedrijf dat geen anti-racisme beleid voert, kan kleurenblindheid verweten worden. Anti-racisme beleid daarentegen kan leiden tot kleurenblindheid. De percepties van mensen en de daarmee samenhangende machtsprocessen en structuren blijken toch wat weerbarstiger en complexer dan we vaak in eerste instantie denken.

2 comments.

Criminalisering van islam?

Posted on May 20th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: (Upcoming) Events, ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Op de hoogte blijven? Abonneer je dan op Closer: HIER.

De Onderzoekschool Maatschappelijke Veiligheid van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam organiseert op 18 juni het symposium:

Juridische ontwikkelingen sinds 9/11: Criminalisering van islam?

Erasmus Universiteit

Expo- en Congrescentrum

Forumzaal M3-15

Zou het in een democratische rechtsstaat mogelijk moeten zijn om aanslagen te verheerlijken? Hoe ver mag de Nederlandse overheid gaan in het opleggen van kledingvoorschriften ten aanzien van moslims? Zijn er gronden waarop men verbodsbepalingen ten aanzien van uitingsvormen van islam kan legitimeren? Dit zijn vragen die tijdens dit symposium aan de orde zullen komen.

De afgelopen jaren heeft islam in Nederland in de spotlights gestaan van media en politiek. De dominante toon in het debat over islam was er een van zorg over ‘radicale islam’ die een opstap zou zijn naar islamitisch terrorisme. Bij het dreigingsbeeld heeft de AIVD in oktober 2007 in het bijzonder haar pijlen op het ‘salafisme’ gericht dat als gevaarlijk wordt aangemerkt vanwege een anti-democratische houding die daarin verscholen zou liggen. Politici als Wilders en Verdonk hebben dit beeld in versterkte vorm overgenomen en het indammen van islamitische uitingsvormen als een speerpunt in hun programma verwerkt.

De angst voor radicale islam heeft echter ook weerslag gehad op wetgeving en rechtspraak. De processen tegen de Hofstadgroep hebben laten zien dat een radicale interpretatie van het geloof met de nieuwe wet terroristische misdrijven bewijs kan vormen voor het deelnemen aan een terroristische organisatie. Naast het strafbaar stellen van meer extreme denkbeelden staat een aantal islamitische uitingsvormen op de nominatie om verboden te worden. Zo is er een wetsvoorstel op komst om het dragen van een burqa in de publieke ruimte te verbieden en pleit Wilders’ PVV voor een hoofddoekenverbod in publieke functies en een verbod voor het bouwen van nieuwe moskeeën.

Deze recente ontwikkelingen roepen de vraag op of Nederland als democratische rechtsstaat – waarin godsdienstvrijheid een belangrijk grondrecht vormt – niet bepaalde grenzen (dreigt te) overschrijd(t)(en) en of er geen sprake is van een ongewenste vorm van problematisering en zelfs criminalisering van bepaalde religieuze denkbeelden. Het is op deze kwesties dat de sprekers tijdens dit symposium in zullen gaan. Daarmee zullen ze de volgende vragen beantwoorden:

1. In hoeverre zijn de veronderstellingen die aan de verboden ten grondslag liggen juist? (dus: in hoeverre zijn deze problemen met islam er?)
2. In hoeverre worden islamitische geloofsuitingen (legitiem of illegitiem) gecriminaliseerd?

Programma

14.00

Welkom en registratie

14.30

Opening door Mr. Fiore Geelhoed, promovenda aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

14.35

Introductie door debatleider Prof. Maurits Berger, hoogleraar Islam in de hedendaagse Westerse wereld aan de Universiteit Leiden

14.50

Islam, radicalisation and radical Muslims
Prof. Tariq Ramadan, professor in islamstudies aan Oxford University en gasthoogleraar Identiteit en burgerschap aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

15.10

Vanuit compassie de ander zien
Mevr. Maimunah van der Heide, columniste voor Islamwijzer.nl en oprichtster van Stichting Vangnet. Ze heeft als missie het bouwen van bruggen tussen praktiserende moslims en niet-moslims.

15.30

Piranha’s in de Hofstadvijver: De Nederlandse strafrechter en radicale moslims
Mr. Victor Koppe, strafrechtadvocaat te Amsterdam die onder meer Samir A. heeft verdedigd

15.50

Plenaire discussie met het publiek

16.50

Afsluiting en borrel

1 comment.

Saba Mahmood: Moral Injury and Secular Law: The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Question of Muslim Minority in Europe

Posted on May 18th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: (Upcoming) Events, Public Islam.

Saba Mahmood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley. She is the author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject that received the 2005 Victoria Schuck award from the American Association of Political Science. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals including Cultural Anthropology, Boston Review, Social Research, American Ethnologist, Public Culture, and Cultural Studies. Mahmood is the recipient of the Carnegie Corporation Scholar’s award (2007), and the Frederick Burkhardt fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (2009-10). Her current project focuses on politics of religious freedom in the Middle East.

She will give a lecture at Utrecht University

Moral Injury and Secular Law: The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Question of Muslim Minority in Europe
Date: 26 May 2009
Location: Drift 13, room 0.04, Utrecht
Time: 14:00 – 17:00

Abstract:

This paper challenges the consensus that the Danish cartoon controversy is best understood as a clash between the values of free speech and blasphemy. Instead, Mahmood unpacks the evaluative framework on which this consensus rests, challenging her audience to re-think normative conceptions of religion, law, and language that frame their reception of the cartoons. Her analysis has implications for how Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans want to think about their collective future in European societies.

This lecture is jointly organized with the Graduate Gender Programme Utrecht University and the working group Theory, Culture and Religion at the Faculty of Social Sciences (KULeuven).

Registration:

Attendance is free but registration is needed. See HERE.

0 comments.

Een impressie van het Nationaal Islam Congres

Posted on May 18th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Some personal considerations.

Op de hoogte blijven? Abonneer je dan op Closer: HIER.

Toen ik gisternacht thuiskwam, was ik doodop en ben nu nog moe. Dat krijg je ervan als je in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag je hele speech voor het Nationaal Islam Congres nog gaat bijschaven, vervolgens de hele middag en avond daar blijft (warm!), zoveel mogelijk lezingen en discussies volgt en slechts twee korte pauzes van 15 minuten tussendoor inlast.

Mijn persoonlijke impressie

Maar het was dan ook de moeite waard. Zonder meer één van de leukste congressen die ik heb meegemaakt en ook inhoudelijk waren de lezingen en discussies zonder meer de moeite waard. Tel daarbij nog even op dat ik enkele mensen heb ontmoet die ik eigenlijk alleen online ken, diverse mensen heb gesproken die ik al lang niet meer gezien had en ook nog allerlei vragen over mezelf moest beantwoorden bij bekenden en onbekenden (‘wat doet u eigenlijk op een Islamcongres, bent u ook moslim, wat vindt u van Wilders, hoe komt u er eigenlijk bij om onderzoek te doen bij moslims en in het bijzonder bij salafisten, zijn die salafisten wel een beetje aardig tegen u (ja hoor), enz. enz.). Veel mensen ontmoet en eigenlijk te weinig tijd om ze goed te leren kennen, zeker niet toen ik zelfs een poging deed om twee mensen tegelijk te beantwoorden én nog naar de lezing te luisteren. Ik zal ongetwijfeld over gekomen zijn als een verstrooide professor bij hen ;).

De organisatie was indrukwekkend vond ik zelf. Ja het klopt dat de rijen voor eten en drinken te lang waren en de deuren van de hal te laat open gingen. Maar voor de rest, om in zo’n korte tijd zo’n congres met zoveel sprekers en zoveel bezoekers te organiseren is buitengewoon knap. Opmerkelijk was ook de diversiteit onder de bezoekers. Diverse etnische achtergronden ben ik inmiddels wel gewend, maar de diversiteit aan religieuze opvattingen en wijze van uitdrukking (in kleding e.d.) was zeer groot. Voor het grootste deel ging het dus om moslims die er kwamen om elkaar te ontmoeten, een gezellig dagje uit te hebben en natuurlijk ook om naar de lezingen te luisteren. Er waren natuurlijk ook journalisten, maar ook studenten, collega-onderzoekers en autochtonen die ‘gewoon uit nieuwsgierigheid’ waren komen. Er was een groepje moslims uit Duitsland onder leiding van de Duitse prediker Pierre Vogel en er waren diverse moslims uit België.

Mannen en vrouwen waren tijdens het congres niet gescheiden. Sommigen hadden daar wel moeite mee, maar begrepen het wel. De meesten hadden er geen probleem mee volgens mij en degenen die ik ken die er wel echt problemen mee hebben, hadden het nagevraagd en waren thuisgebleven. Nu lijkt het mij nogal lastig om een plek te vinden waar je zo’n groot publiek in verschillende zalen met parallelsessies kunt scheiden, een lastige opgave. Ik heb overigens begrepen (maar kan het verkeerd hebben) dat de beheerder van de Apollohal een scheiding tussen mannen en vrouwen ook niet wilde hebben.

Zelf heb ik op één na alle lezingen van het Salafisme congres bijgewoond en één lezing daarbuiten van Bilal Philips over ‘Tools for Dawah and dialogue’ die vooral over dawah (missie) ging (en waarin dialoog eigenlijk gelijk werd gesteld aan dawah). Nu moet ik zeggen dat de dawah activiteiten gericht op niet-moslims in mijn beleving nogal beperkt zijn. Niet-moslims zijn welkom in salafi kringen als men zich wil bekeren, maar er zijn weinig activiteiten specifiek daarop gericht volgens mij. De dawah richt zich vooral op moslims. Eén van de bezoekers vond dat Philips (die zich in zijn lezing wel onder meer richtte op de dawah onder niet-moslims) juist moest richten op bepaalde moslims om hen het juiste begrip van de islam bij te brengen; in het bijzonder Bin Laden.

De lezingen bij het Salafisme congres werden voor het grootste deel verzorgd door salafistische predikers. Uit hun verhaal kwam vooral naar voren dat salafisme en de ‘correcte Islam’ hetzelfde zijn; wat de eerste generaties moslims praktiseerden is salafisme. In die zin werden de geschiedenis, de verschillende stromingen in Islam e.d. bekeken en voor het voetlicht gebracht. Eén van de vragen uit het publiek was hoe men dan omgaat met de meningsverschillen die leefden onder de eerste generatie. Het antwoord kwam er op neer dan men die meningsverschillen zou aanvaarden en dat de verschillende standpunten die er toen zouden zijn geweest omtrent bepaalde onderwerpen het uitgangspunt vormen voor nu (er gaat niks af en er komt niks bij). De lezingen werden over het algemeen op een manier gegeven die veel bezoekers aansprak: helder, maar lichtvoetig, serieuze onderwerpen maar met de nodige kwinkslagen en vrolijkheid en met de nodige interactie met het publiek en op een niveau dat denk ik voor de meesten goed te volgen was. Opvallend was dat in de lezingen die ik heb bijgewoond (op die over dawah na dan) het onderwerp tawheed (er is één God en die is uniek en ondeelbaar) nauwelijks expliciet aan de orde kwam terwijl dit toch we een centraal punt is. De lezing over de geschiedenis van salafisme van Khadjé was helder en ook zeer persoonlijk vond ik zelf wat op de aanwezigen (denk ik) ook wel indruk maakte. In mijn lezing heb ik vooral een impressie gegeven van mijn eigen onderzoek en werkwijze dat zich niet zozeer richt op het gedachtegoed (salafisme) maar op salafi-organisaties, netwerken en personen als onderdelen van een brede sociale beweging. Een sociale beweging die zich richt op het revitaliseren van de islam op basis van een ideaalbeeld uit de tijd van de eerste generaties moslims waarbij men probeert moslims onderricht te geven in de correcte islamitische levenswijze op basis van dat ideaalbeeld dat de participanten bevredigender, correcter en rechtvaardiger vinden dan nu. Naast een impressie van werkwijze heb ik fragmenten gegeven van gesprekken die ik heb gehad met jonge moslims en me daarbij vooral gericht op hun persoonlijke ontwikkeling vanuit de vraag hoe mensen zich een beeld proberen te vormen van wat islam nu eigenlijk is en hoe en waarom men daarbij gebruik maakt van de activiteiten van de verschillende salafi netwerken en wat de consequenties daarvan zijn. Een zijvraag daarbij is is waarom de Nederlandse staat salafisten als ‘radicaal’ bestempeld en wat de consequenties daarvan zijn. Deze kwam in de lezing verder niet aan bod, in de discussie een klein beetje. De vragen aan mij uit het publiek kwamen van collega-wetenschappers, studenten (moslim en niet-moslim) en andere belangstellenden (moslim). Opvallend en erg leuk bij de twee laatste groepen vond ik het niveau van hun vragen en het feit dat sommigen mijn boek goed gelezen hadden. Ook de vraag van een collega hoe mijn, wat afstandelijke, sociaal-wetenschappelijke benadering het religieuze aspect (het geloven in God en hoe mensen hun relatie met God beleven) kon ‘begrijpen’ was een zeer goede vraag. Doordat ik me erg richt op de persoonlijke beleving van mensen komt dat aspect in mijn onderzoek zeker terug, maar het spanningsveld blijft. Verder had ik het idee dat veel mensen mijn kritiek op salafistische netwerken en de onderlinge verdeeldheid wel begrepen en deze, tot op zekere hoogte, ook deelden.

Later was er nog een paneldiscussie over salafisme op internet. Die was zeker de moeite waard ook en mijn mede-discussanten Omar en Abdullah hadden interessante punten over de onderlinge bejegening en het eigen handig knippen en plakken van sommige jongeren, de mogelijkheden die internet biedt om een self-made scholar te worden (of althans dat mensen denken dat ze dat zijn) en de consequenties die dat heeft. De daaropvolgende discussie ging over de toekomst van het salafisme met Haitham al Haddad, Bilal Philips, Mohamed Abdul Hadi en Saoed Khadjé. Met name Al Haddad en Philips benadrukten het belang van het opbouwen van islamitische instituties in Europa, voor onderwijs, als tegenwicht en bescherming tegen de, volgens hen, voortgaande secularisering van moslims. Hoe verhoudt zich dat nu met de opvatting dat de moslimgemeenschap in Europa de sterkst groeiende gemeenschap is, zoals Al-Haddad eerder stelde? Of Yasin’s eerdere voorspelling (of wens?) dat moslims de overhand krijgen? Tegelijkertijd was er het beroep van één van hen (ben even vergeten wie) op moslims dat zij hun kinderen ook naar islamitische scholen moeten sturen en stelde hij dat het sturen van de kinderen naar niet-moslimscholen haram (verboden) zou zijn. Dat roept nog wel de nodige vragen op want islamitische scholen in verschillende Europese landen zijn anders van karakter (hier zijn ze publiek, in Engeland zijn het dacht ik vooral privé-scholen evenals in Frankrijk) en ook de kwaliteitsniveau’s van sommige scholen maken het problematisch denk ik.

Aan het einde was er nog een vraag- en antwoord sessie met de verschillende grote namen. Een combinatie van vragen over het huwelijk en andere zaken die (zeer) privé zijn, vragen over de uitvoering van bepaalde zaken kwam aan bod en, mede door de goede leiding van de voorzitter, kwamen er ook (volgens mij althans) heldere antwoorden. Ik heb het niet helemaal meegekregen omdat ik op dat moment verwikkeld was in een strijd met een heerlijk broodje hamburger (halal) en friet met, inclusief koffie en water én met enkele leuke gesprekken met één van de sprekers en een (moslim-) bezoeker en later weer met twee collega’s. Waardoor ik maar net de trein heb gehaald waar de nodige congresbezoekers uit het zuiden en Rotterdam ook nog zaten en we dus het hele congres nog maar eens dunnetjes hebben overgedaan.

Kort samengevat was het congres zeer de moeite waard, vermoeiend en met een goede, gemoedelijke sfeer. De verontrusting die er voor het congres was onder bepaalde groepen zal daarmee zeker niet weggenomen zijn en in de discussies werden ook af en toe door niet-moslims vragen gesteld over religieuze tolerantie (bijvoorbeeld met betrekking tot dawah/missie) en ook de salafistische boodschappen over de islam zal niet iedereen in goede aarde vallen. Ook enkele moslims merkten voorafgaand aan en tijdens het congres op dat zij zich totaal niet herkenden in de salafistische prekers en/of in de inhoud van hun boodschappen. Ik denk dat het een belangrijk congres is geweest waar diverse onderwerpen aan bod kwamen die al veel langer onder moslims in discussie zijn zoals burgerschap, de positie van de vrouw, de sharia en de verschijningsvormen van het salafisme. Salafisme, of in mijn termen de salafi beweging, werd niet zozeer als een probleem behandeld (hoewel sommigen het wel als zodanig ervaren), maar als religieus-maatschappelijk verschijnsel, beweging of stroming die, of je het nu met hen eens bent of niet, bestaansrecht heeft én een sterke positie in Nederland onder jongeren. Bijzonder was de gemengde samenstelling qua religieuze opvatting en dat had een goede uitwerking op de sfeer tijdens het congres. Denk niet aan al te zware en heel felle discussies, daarvoor was het niet echt de plaats denk ik. Voor veel bezoekers ging het daar ook niet om is mijn indruk, maar om ‘kennis over de islam’ te vergaren. In de wandelgangen waren veel wel wat kritischer overigens. Dit gebeurde zonder het gezag van de salafistische predikers in twijfel te trekken, maar wel duidelijk is dat in het dagelijks leven de islamitische tradities één van de punten zijn die worden meegenomen in de beslissingen van mensen (bijvoorbeeld over naar welke school hun kinderen gaan) en dat andere punten, vaak praktisch van aard (nabijheid van een islamitische school) of meer principieel (kwaliteit van scholen) een grote, zo niet grotere rol spelen.

Het congres in de media en op internet

Verschillende kranten hadden op de dag zelf een aankondiging, zoals de Telegraaf.

De Wereldomroep was aanwezig en heeft een korte impressie:

Verder Nederlands – WERELDOMROEP – Nederlands

Het evenement in de Apollohal trok zo’n duizend bezoekers, die lezingen en workshops bijwoonden van moslimgeleerden uit onder meer Saudi-Arabië, de Verenigde Staten, Groot-Brittannië en Nederland. Moslims en niet-moslims discussieerden over burgerschap, de positie van moslimvrouwen en de sharia, de streng-islamitische wetgeving. Ook het salafisme, een stroming binnen de islam die wordt beschouwd als radicaal en anti-westers, kwam aan de orde.

Omroep Brabant heeft voor zover ik kan zien een bericht van het ANP overgenomen:

Omroep Brabant: Radio, TV, Teletekst en Internet

AMSTERDAM (ANP) – ,,Dit is het gezicht van de islam”, zei woordvoerder Saoed Khadjé zaterdag bij aanvang van het eerste Nationaal Islam Congres in de Amsterdamse Apollohal. ,,Vandaag zullen we zien hoe divers de islam is, met al haar verschillende ideologieën.” De organisatie spreekt van een ‘groot succes’ en is van plan het congres elk jaar te organiseren.

AT5 had een korte reportage die je hier kunt bekijken:

Eerste Nationaal Islam Congres in Zuid – AT5 Nieuws

Hoofddoeken, cd’s met Arabische muziek en de digitale Koran. Het was vandaag allemaal te verkrijgen op het Nationaal Islam Congres. Naast spullen kopen kon het publiek luisteren naar verschillende lezingen van zowel liberale als orthodoxe Islamgeleerden. Volgens de organisatie waren er ruim duizend mensen op afgekomen.

Het NOS journaal van 20.00 uur had de volgende reportage die je hier kunt bekijken:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlpLmAjCX30 /]

Een kritisch verslag in De Pers van Gustaw Bessems:

Be in it to win it! – DePers.nl

Zo’n duizend toehoorders waren zondag aanwezig bij het eerste Nationaal Islam Congres in de Amsterdamse Apollo Hal. Buitenlandse prekers voorzien een machtige islam, vooral hier in het westen.

Propriacures op internet wil maar niet echt lukken, maar ze hebben wel een zure weergave:

Haatpredikers welkom bij NOS

Aha, dus zo zit het. Het NOS-journaal besteedde – vanzelfsprekend – aandacht aan het Nationaal Islam Congres. Een bijeenkomst die in het teken staat van ‘dialoog, begrip en samenleven.’ Op de sprekerslijst: Khalid Yasin. Salafist, fraudeur en geleerde. Geleerde? Jazeker, iemand die claimt dat het aidsvirus gefabriceerd is door de Amerikaanse overheid en Osama Bin Laden een hersenspinsel noemt, krijgt bij de NOS gewoon het predikaat ‘geleerde’ onder zijn puntbaard. Hé Sacha, wanneer krijgt Jomanda nou eindelijk eens dat eredoctoraat?

Qalam – Muslims around the world heeft het Engelstalige bericht van de Wereldomroep overgenomen:

QALAM — Around the Muslim World » Amsterdam: National Islam Congress

Amsterdam: National Islam Congress

Around 1,000 people attended the first National Islam Congress in Amsterdam today. The event was organised by the Institute of Islamic Studies in order to highlight Islam’s diversity and promote dialogue. There were numerous discussions and workshops as well as lectures given by Islamic scholars from numerous countries including Saudi Arabia, United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

De weergave in de media was toch wel beperkt gezien de commotie vooraf. Gezien de over het algemeen vrij brave uitlatingen was er waarschijnlijk niet veel te melden als boosmakertjes en om sommige punten goed te begrijpen moet je toch echt meer ingevoerd zijn in de discussies denk ik.

Natuurlijk het was zondag. Er zijn toch wat meer verslagen dan ik dacht:

Enkele persoonlijke impressies:

Levinas and multicultural society: Nationaal Islam Congres

Ik ben naar het Nationaal Islam Congres geweest op mijn verjaardag op 16 mei. “Wat moet je daar nu?” vroegen een paar “atheisten” tijdens een feestje later die avond (met veel bier 🙂 ). Ik vind het moeilijk uit te leggen. Het is vooral dat ik meer wil weten over de islam. Als ik deelneem aan discussies over de multiculturele samenleving dan wil ik weten waar ik het over heb. Daarnaast is mijn interesse voor een deel filosofisch en ook persoonlijk.

Weblog Anja Meulenbelt » Eerste nationale islam congres

Ik kon er niet de hele dag bij zijn, want ’s middags was ook de bijeenkomst in De Balie, over Palestina. Maar ik was bij het begin, en nog een paar uur aan het eind. Het eerste Nationale Islam Congres. Georganiseerd door het Dar-al-Ilm, het Instituut voor Islam Studies. (hier) Bij elkaar werd het bezocht door zo’n anderhalfduizend bezoekers – en dit viel meteen op: grote diversiteit. Vrouwen met en zonder hoofddoek of niqab, mannen met en zonder baard. Maar ook een grote mengeling van etniciteiten, die je, behalve in de Poldermoskee en de islamomroepen, in moslimorganisaties zelden tegen zult komen, hier van alles door elkaar: Turkse achtergrond, Marokkaanse, Surinaamse en nog andere. Heel bewust was er ook gekozen voor een brede insteek: vele stromingen, van streng orthodox tot vrijzinnig waren vertegenwoordigd.

Dubbele leugens: islamcongres, NOS en AT5!

Opties:

1. islam is een vreedzame religie als alle andere, gezellig multiculti, laat iedere het zijne en laten we de boel bij elkaar houden, ons met nieuwe VOC (of actueler Nieuwe Wereld Orde) mentaliteit uitstrekken naar een prettige samenleving.

2. islam is een totalitair systeem, wat sinds de oprichter, Mohammed 7e eeuw, zich gedurende 1400 jaar heeft ontwikkeld van geen enkel tot ca. 60 islamlanden, met zeer veel bloedvergieten, recent nog miljoenen doden onder niet-moslims, zie http://media.terrorismawareness.org/files/MPAC.swf

met een schokkende DVD over de positie van nu ca. 15 miljoen christenen in de moslimwereld en de miljoenen recente doden, gelegitimeerd vanuit de koran/hadith.

Voor meer info www.frontpagemag.com

Geruststellende opmerking voor politiek correcte onnozelaars mbt. islamisering, zoals vele kerken, christelijke organisaties en synagoges, alle politieke partijen behalve de PVV en SGP plus de velen, die toch al niet nadachten, anders dan in eigen belang op korte termijn: slaap rustig voort, optie 1 is uw waarheid.

Voor mensen, die durven nadenken, op basis van feiten en gezond verstand en realiteitszin:

Steun alles, wat de islam ontmaskert, opdat we bewaard worden voor islamisering.

Voor hen, die vanuit hetzelfde gezond verstand en realiteitszin bovendien tot de conclusie zijn gekomen of gaan komen, dat er één God, JHWH, de God van Abraham, Isaak en Jakob bestaat, die liefde, genade en rechtvaardigheid is: zoek Hem in uw gebed en Bijbelstudie, zodat uw ogen verder open gaan voor de tijd, waarin we leven.

En ook het Nederlands Dagblad heeft standaard toch altijd wel veel belangstelling voor dit soort zaken:

Nederlands Dagblad – Nationale Islamdag toont divers gezicht

Op een zogenaamde ‘islambazaar’ konden bezoekers boeken en kleding kopen. Ook was er halal-voedsel te krijgen en waren er verschillende gebedsruimtes ingericht. Eén hal werd speciaal ingericht als ‘Academisch Congres over salafisme’. Moslimgeleerden en deskundigen spraken daar zaterdag vanaf het middaguur over het salafisme, een wereldwijde orthodoxe beweging binnen de islam.

In de ‘salafisme-hal’ konden luisteraars een islamitische kwestie voorleggen aan een bevoegde moslimgeleerde om daarover een zogeheten ‘fatwa’ (religieus oordeel) uit te laten spreken. ,,Maar voor zover ik heb gehoord, is hier nog niet gefatwa’d”, aldus een bezoeker. ,,Een fatwa is een richtlijn voor moslims, géén doodvonnis”, verduidelijkte directeur Saoed Khadjé van Dar al’Ilm, het instituut dat het congres organiseerde.

En let nu op de fragmenten van de Volkskrant en Trouw (inhoudelijk niks mis mee):

Natuurlijk was ook De Volkskrant er:

Gemengd publiek bij eerste Nationaal Islam Congres – Binnenland – de Volkskrant

In de hoofdzaal pleiten vooral gematigde sprekers voor dialoog en burgerschap, terwijl de bovenzaal geheel ten dienste staat van het salafisme, een fundamentalistische stroming die de levenswijze nastreeft van de profeet Mohammed en zijn metgezellen.

Dat veel jongeren in de praktijk moeite hebben islamitische regels te combineren met de moderne samenleving, blijkt tijdens de workshop ‘Sharia in de Nederlandse rechtsstaat’. Eenderde van de toehoorders vindt dat in Nederland een vorm van sharia moet worden ingevoerd om moslims tegemoet te komen. Workshopleider Maurits Berger, hoogleraar islam in de westerse wereld, waarschuwt voor het afschrikwekkende beeld dat velen bij ‘sharia’ hebben. ‘Dan wordt gedacht aan het afhakken van handen en executies zoals in Iran.’ Maar in feite is veel van de sharia al terug te vinden in het Nederlands familierecht, legt hij uit.

’Islam is gekaapt door terroristen’ – Trouw

Het publiek, onder wie nogal wat bekeerlingen, is merendeels jong – twintigers en dertigers – veel vrouwen, soms met nikab, meestal met hoofddoek maar ook wel blootshoofds. De opkomst: een goede duizend.

[…]

De behoudende salafi-richting is ook met andere sprekers goed vertegenwoordigd. Ze maken zich zorgen over de radicalisering van hun jeugd. Hun dubbele probleem: hoe die jongeren tot rede te brengen en tegelijk de wantrouwige buitenwereld duidelijk te maken dat ze niet hetzelfde denken als die jongeren.

[…]

Omdat ze zelf geen sharia-expert is, krijgt ze hulp van de heer Rodam van Nasiha. Rodam werkte voor zijn pensioen op de afdeling successierechten, hij weet dus waarover hij het heeft. Rodam: „Het is opvallend dat vooral nieuwe moslims, bekeerlingen dus, belangstelling hebben voor deze regeling en er gebruik van maken. Marokkanen en Turken tonen wel interesse maar zijn aarzelend. Meestal zijn ze in gemeenschap van goederen getrouwd en dan wordt het moeilijk om iets te regelen. Bij overlijden valt de erfenis automatisch toe aan de partner. Ons eerste advies is dan ook om te trouwen met een huwelijkscontract. We adviseren ook bij echtscheiding. We bemiddelen eerst maar als dat niet lukt dan kunnen wij de scheiding volgens islamitische regels afhandelen. Ook dat kan alleen wanneer er een huwelijkscontract is.”

En bekijk dan de kamervragen van de PVV. Valt u ook iets op?

Radicale moslim-sjeik onthult ware aard islam – Kamervragen – www.pvv.nl

2.)

Bent u ermee bekend dat een van de sprekers tijdens het Nationaal Islam Congres in Amsterdam – sjeik Khalid Yasin – zei: ‘De islam zal de overhand krijgen. Ook al haten de ongelovigen, de afgodendienaars en hypocriete moslims dat’ en ‘het is eigenlijk de bedoeling dat de islam de wereld bestuurt’?

3.)

Bent u ermee bekend dat een andere spreker – Haitham al-Haddad – tijdens dit congres Nederlandse moslims heeft aangespoord Nederlandse shariarechtbanken te eisen?

4.)

Deelt u onze afschuw over deze uitspraken? Bent u ook van mening dat sjeik Khalid Yasin en Haitham al-Haddad met hun uitspraken de ware aard van de islam hebben laten zien?

5.)

Deelt u onze opvatting dat er nooit – in nog geen duizend jaar – formele of informele shariarechtbanken in Nederland mogen worden opgericht? Bent u van plan alles in het werk te stellen om islamitische rechtbanken in Nederland te voorkomen? Zo neen, waarom niet?

6.)

Deelt u voorts de mening dat de islam nooit en te nimmer de overhand mag krijgen in Nederland en evenmin de wereld bestuurt? Deelt u onze mening dat de islamisering van Nederland met kracht moet worden gestopt? Zo neen, waarom niet?

Op basis van lezerstips kan ik de volgende nog toevoegen:

De Dagelijkse Standaard » Ontdekislam.nl: doodstraf voor afvalligen!

Over de extremistische sprekers op het congres is de afgelopen dagen al genoeg gezegd en geschreven. Maar wie zaten er nu eigenlijk in de zaal? Welnu, de bezoekers van Ontdekislam.nl bijvoorbeeld. Interessante site, dat moet gezegd. Er wordt volop gediscussieerd over de ware islam en over allerlei prangende vragen die daarmee samenhangen. Vragen als: wat er moet worden gedaan tegen ongelovigen? Moet je ze nou de doodstraf geven of niet? Wanneer mag je overspelige vrouwen stenigen? En hoe zit het ook alweer met het afhakken van handen van dieven?

Naar de knoppen: Wordt wakker Nederland. Dit is islam

Vikingdread zegt:

Ok, kort samengevat komt het hier op neer:

1. De islam moet en zal overheersen

2. Islam betekent niet vrede, maar onderwerping

3. Er is maar een islam en salafisme is het

4. Sharia moet, overal, ook in Nederland

5. Kwaliteit van onderwijs is niet relevant, als het maar islamitisch is

Wat betekent dit vertaald naar gedrag van moslims in Nederland, wanneer ze bovenstaande uitspraken ter harte nemen?

Ik hou me te midden van deze dreiging vast aan Jezus. Hij toont ons geen weg van haat en geweld, maar van liefde. Hij roept christenen niet op tot agressie, maar wil dat wij het kwade overwinnen door het goede te doen. Hij onderwerpt niemand en laat de mens vrij in zijn keuzes. Maar omdat de God van de bijbel een heilig God is, zal er uiteindelijk wel een oordeel moeten komen. Niet door mensen, maar door Hemzelf. En daardoor een rechtvaardig oordeel.

PAROOL: AMSTERDAM – Bilal Philips: ‘Misstand islam is misverstand’

AMSTERDAM – Moslims hebben het tegenwoordig niet makkelijk. Om ze te wapenen tegen de negatieve benadering door de buitenwereld gaf shaykh dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips zaterdag op het Nationaal Islam Congres in de Amsterdamse Apollohal moslims tips om kritiek te weerleggen.

Salafism dominates at Dutch Islamic Congress – Radio Netherlands Worldwide – English

Salafism dominates at Dutch Islamic Congress

By Michel Hoebink

The first National Islamic Congress in the Netherlands was held last Saturday in Amsterdam and attracted young Muslims from all over the country. The most prominent speakers at the congress belonged to the fundamentalist Salafism movement.

De krantenverslagen die er zijn, zijn niet slecht, redelijk feitelijk. Het punt van het journaal dat zo ongeveer alle stromingen aanwezig waren (iets wat ook wel in andere verslagen terugkomt) is niet helemaal correct als je ook de sjiieten in ogenschouw neemt; volgens mij waren die er niet. De verschillende soennitische denkrichtingen waren denk ik redelijk vertegenwoordigd, met een grote dominantie van salafistische predikers (wat ook wel recht doet aan de situatie op de markt van religieuze ideeën).

Op diverse fora wordt er nog nagepraat met een enkele kritische noot maar overwegend positief, door mensen die er geweest zijn en die het hebben gemist, zoals (natuurlijk) op Ontdekislam.nl en Marokko.nl Islam&Ik (en ook HIER en HIER), Marokko.nl Actualiteiten HIER en HIER,  HIER en ook op Ansaar.nl en Maroc.nl. HIER en HIER.

Mijn bijdrage: Marokkaans-Nederlandse jongeren en salafisme, een veldonderzoek (Understanding Islam)

Op zich heb ik wel vaker voor een gemengd publiek gesproken, maar zo gemengd als dit was toch wel een uitdaging. Er zaten immers wetenschappers tussen, studenten en ‘gewone’ moslims en niet-moslims. Ik heb er uiteindelijk voor gekozen op mijn lezing af te stemmen op het ‘gewone’ publiek en dan met name de moslims. Ik hoop dat dat gelukt is. Onderzoek doen is leuk, maar zo vaak krijg ik niet de kans mijn eigen onderzoek uit te leggen (en dus ook te verantwoorden) naar een moslimpubliek terwijl dit wel van groot belang is. Ik heb voor dat type lezingen de gewoonte om mijn contactgevens mede te delen aangezien niet iedereen er aan toe komt of durft om in een publiek vragen te stellen of kritiek te geven. Enkelen hebben daar gebruik van gemaakt door mij te mailen en eentje heeft een SMS gestuurd. Dank daarvoor en jullie krijgen snel antwoord.

Ik had eerder aangekondigd hier mijn presentatie te zullen plaatsen. Dat ga ik toch maar even niet doen. Allereerst moet ik het eerst bijwerken. Er zaten geen literatuurverwijzingen bij dus dat ga ik nog doen. De fragmenten van de gesprekken met Abu Yasin en Omar (schuilnamen) worden verwijderd en in plaats daarvan geparafraseerd in mijn woorden aangezien zij liever niet hebben dat hun letterlijke tekst verspreid wordt. Daarnaast is het nog geen echt uitgewerkt verhaal. Mocht je de presentatie niettemin willen hebben (incl. powerpoint) dan kun je mailen (je mailgegevens blijven altijd vertrouwelijk!). Voor de journalisten onder u: nee als je op zoek bent naar een nieuwtje dan heeft u er weinig aan. Dus wil je een kopie van de lezing en/of heb je andere vragen, klachten, kritiek of wat dan ook, maak dan gebruik van het onderstaande mailformulier of maak gebruik van MSN en/of Paltalk.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

10 comments.

Closing the week 20

Posted on May 18th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere.

Closer
Most popular this week: Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics
Also ‘hot’: Dar al ‘Ilm – Het nationale Islam Congres (a report – in Dutch – will appear on Closer by Monday)

International (English)

Religion & Politics
‘I was groomed for jihad in Britain’ -Times Online

‘I was groomed for jihad in Britain’
A Muslim teenager in London gives the first inside account of how extremists are luring recruits
Kevin Dowling

A TEENAGER has revealed how he was recruited by Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists and groomed to carry out suicide attacks in Britain.

In the first insider account of how radicals are preying on vulnerable Muslim youths, the teenager describes being approached by Islamists at a mosque in south London that was used by the failed 21/7 bombers, and indoctrinated at a secret network of squats.

A Woman in the Muslim Brotherhood | Jacksonville.com

A Woman in the Muslim Brotherhood
T. Nicole Hernandez

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would give more freedom for all aspects of Egyptian society, including women, if the movement achieved power in the country, a female member of the group said.

Happy Daggers: “Middle of what? Middle to whom?” – Nawal El Saadawi

The renowned Egyptian writer, doctor and activist Nawal El Saadawi is currently promoting the English translations of her most famous writings, reissued by Zed Books publisher. As a consequence, she is meeting her readers in diverse places – libraries, universities, etc. – engaging with them a very stimulating dialogue that takes an Arab perspective on political issues related to cultural, social and sexual prejudices. Born in 1931, El Saadawi is just as you could imagine her: radical, impressive but still very nice, attentive to her readers’ feedback and willing to understand different views from hers – at least, to a certain extent. Despite her stubbornness, the 78 year-old lady missed neither eloquence nor sense of humor. I met her at Housman’s, a radical bookshop in London.

Gender

An unseen burqa revolution | csmonitor.com

Every year brings progress for women’s rights in Muslim nations, though the advances are often obscured by smoke from explosive news reports suggesting the opposite.

It’s so hard to find obedient girls these days… | open Democracy News Analysis

I tried to maintain my shock and just nodded; but I was quietly realizing here was patriarchy in action – what drove a woman to raise a son who values subservience and insecurity in a wife? What did it say about her own beliefs in her own power?

“Muslims Talking Sex” Series: Much Ado About Nothing- the Hymen « GOATMILK: An intellectual playground edited by Wajahat Ali

GOATMILK introduces its original and exclusive month long series entitled “Muslims Talking Sex” featuring diverse Muslim writers from around the world discussing a gamut of topics in their own unique, honest and eclectic voices.

Commercialization of Islam
Halal: Buying Muslim – TIME

One reason for the rise of the halal economy is that the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are younger and, in some places at least, richer than ever. Seeking to tap that huge market, non-Muslim multinationals like Tesco, McDonald’s and Nestlé have expanded their Muslim-friendly offerings and now control an estimated 90% of the global halal market.

At the same time, governments in Asia and the Middle East are pouring millions into efforts to become regional “halal hubs,” providing tailor-made manufacturing centers and “halal logistics” — systems to maintain product purity during shipping and storage. The increased competition is changing manufacturing and supply chains in some unusual places. Most of Saudi Arabia’s chicken is raised in Brazil, which means Brazilian suppliers have built elaborate halal slaughtering facilities. Abattoirs in New Zealand, the world’s biggest exporter of halal lamb, have hosted delegations from Iran and Malaysia. And the Netherlands, keen to maximize Rotterdam’s role as Europe’s biggest port, has built halal warehouses so that imported halal goods aren’t stored next to pork or alcohol.

Research
Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation « Nuseiba

Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation
May 10, 2009

Portrayals of the ‘Other’ in Fine Art and Mass Media

Farah

This is the first in a 3-part series discussing the portrayal of the ‘Other’ through Western cultural artefacts. In this post I will establish the theoretical framework, and discuss the role of the Orient in fine art during the first wave of colonialism in the late 1800’s.

Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation: Part 2 « Nuseiba

How did the high art Oriental depictions of harems, turbans, hyper-sexualised women in transparent veils and sheiks make its way into mass culture?

[Note to myself and my readers…yes again a quote from Nuseiba. If they keep on going like this I have no other option left than calling Nuseiba my favorite blog of the moment]
Defying the Integration Models – the Second Generation in Europe: European Science Foundation

In Germany there is hardly any upcoming elite, but there are also fewer pupils dropping out of school, and more help with the transition to the labour market. But the Netherlands has also seen – along with the emergence of an elite – the growth of an at-risk group, of school dropouts who may be unemployed, or only intermittently employed, and in social housing.

“If you look to the future, the question is this: is the steady rise in social mobility in German-speaking countries, from the low-class position of their parents to the lower middle-class, skilled position, the safe route to integration? Or looking at France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium, where there is a developing elite, will that speed up the integration process? Or is there in these countries a group at the bottom that will cause so many problems that integration will spiral negatively?”

Hezbollah Deals with “Shia Salafism” in Lebanon «

While ”Salafism” is usually associated with Sunni Islam, it is applicable here in the sense that “Salafi,” as understood in contemporary Islamism, essentially describes a more dogmatic approach to dealing with society compared to pragmatic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood; the Shia, like the Sunnis, have their dogmatists and their pragmatists. The article focuses on Lebanon and how Hezbollah and its rival, the Shia cleric Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah, have recently improved their relationship as part of an effort to minimize the spread of ”Shia Salafism” (especially in the form of anti-Sunni sectarian agitation).

Online Radicalisation – New Article in RUSI Journal « ubiwar . conflict in n dimensions

The April 2009 issue of the RUSI Journal arrived today and contains an article by yours truly. The editors eventually called it, ‘Regulating the ‘Dark Web’: How a Two-Fold Approach can Tackle Peer-to-Peer Radicalisation’, and it’s essentially a critique of techno-centric approaches to ‘online radicalisation’, a quick look at UK political discourse on the subject, and some policy suggestions.

antropologi.info – anthropology in the news blog – Book review: How neoliberalism reshapes motherhood in Calcutta

How do middle-class women in Calcutta understand and experience economic change? What impact is globalization having on the new middle-classes in Asia? Our reviewer Tessa Valo has again been lucky with her choice of books. For antropologi.info, she reviewes Domestic Goddesses: Maternity, Globalization and Middle-Class Identity in Contemporary India by Henrike Donner

altmuslimah.com – Author Dalia Mogahed: “We’re all working for a more well-informed citizenry”

Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, helped oversee the largest surveys of the Muslim world, co-authoring Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think in the process. Now, Barack Obama has tapped her to join his Faith Advisory Council. Here, we speak to Mogahed about her new position of influence.

Virtually Islamic: Research and News about Islam in the Digital Age

Gary R. Bunt – iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam

New book: The internet has profoundly shaped how Muslims perceive Islam, and how Islamic societies and networks are evolving and shifting within the twenty-first century. While these electronic interfaces appear new and innovative in terms of how the media is applied, much of their content has a basis in classical Islamic concepts, with an historical resonance that can be traced back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

iMuslims explores how these transformations and influences play out in diverse cyber Islamic environments, and how they are responding to shifts in technology and society. The book discusses how, in some contexts, the application of the internet has had an overarching transformational effect on how Muslims practice Islam, how forms of Islam are represented to the wider world, and how Muslim societies perceive themselves and their peers. On one level, this may be in terms of practical performance of Islamic duties and rituals, or on the interpretation and understanding of the Qur’an. On another level, cyber Islamic environments have exposed Muslims to radical and new influences outside of traditional spheres of knowledge and authority, causing long-standing paradigmatic shifts at a grassroots level within societies. iMuslims looks at how these changes are taking place, including through social networking sites and the blogosphere.

The book is backed up by an Online Bibliography (Version 1.0).

Gary Bunt’s website can be found HERE and his useful weblog HERE.
Dutch
Eerst militair, dan moslim – Binnenland – Reformatorisch Dagblad

Hun integratie blijft nog wat achter bij die in de rest van de maatschappij, maar moslims in de Nederlandse krijgsmacht zijn geen zeldzaamheid meer. Wat ervaart een moslimmilitair als hij op missie is in een islamitisch land als Afghanistan? Sergeant van de verbindingstroepen Buddy Masfirdaus: „Ik ben allereerst militair, pas daarna moslim.”

nrc.nl – Binnenland – Kinderen zorgen vaak voor Turkse en Marokkaanse ouderen

Kinderen zorgen vaak voor Turkse en Marokkaanse ouderen
De schoondochters wacht een zware klus

Door onze redacteur Sheila Kamerman
Gouda/Deventer, 7 mei. Het aantal Turks- en Marokkaans-Nederlandse ouderen groeit. Dochters en schoondochters nemen meestal de zorg op zich, vaak ten koste van zichzelf. Maar hoelang nog?

AD.nl – Gouda – ‘Gouda redt zichzelf wel’

Door RIK SNEIJDER
GOUDA – Gouda is opnieuw landelijk nieuws. Een reeks incidenten trekt de aandacht. Is Gouda nog te redden?

Deze en zeven andere vragen heeft AD Groene Hart voorgelegd aan mensen die het weten kunnen: voorzitter Edgar de Mol van Bewonersgroep Gouda Oost Veilig, Gouwenaar en directeur Farid Azarkan van Samenwerkingsverband van Marokkanen in Nederland, politicus Mohammed Mohandis van de PvdA in Gouda en zijn collegaraadslid voor de VVD Laura Werger.

0 comments.

Anthropology on the web – the culture of youtube

Posted on May 15th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: anthropology, Blogosphere, Method, Research Tools.

Of course, anthropology is one of the most important and interesting studies one can imagine. I know, I’m an anthropologist. But what does an anthropologist actually do? And why should you study it? Well the next video on Youtube gives a nice impression

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xErJAsZo2Pw /]

One of the things we do in anthropology is observe,  analyze the mediation of culture. We can show how cultures are mediated by posting videos on Youtube. At the same time however Youtube is also one of the mediums through which cultures are mediated, so also Youtube can be studied as an ethnographic field:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcS_VpoWJk /]

And as an anthropologist posting your own videos on the web is actually a particular form of participant observation; one of the (if not the) most important characteristic of the ethnographic / anthropological method. Of course doing research on Youtube and, as a part of that, participate in it brings about a lot of issues pertaining to method, interpretation of the medium and the mediated messages that call for a reflection on the ethnographic studies of Youtube based upon anthropological methods:

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU /]

For the most part the latter two videos have a clear celebratory message about the emancipatory possiblities and Youtube as a source of belonging and connecting to others. The latter video in the end also shows some attention of ‘drama’ on Youtube but there is a lack of attention (in many web studies I think) of the disciplining aspects of the medium. What does it mean for identities or religious messages to mediated through visual culture? How does the medium force people into displaying their messages and get their messages heard and seen on the web?

The first video appears on many anthropological websites such as Anthropologist about Town. The other two (Introducting Our Youtube Ethnography Project and An Anthropological Introduction to Youtube) are part of the Mediated Cultures website where you can find several more Youtube videos. Mediated Cultures is a group led by Dr. Michael Wesch dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography. The blog from this working group has many interesting posts ranging from ethnographic tools for the internet such as SmartPen, to impressions of the Youtube content.

Another example is AnthroVlog of Patricia G. Lange who uses her weblog as a site for participating in online video communities, experimenting with tools, too learn how a site/weblog actually ‘works’ and as a means for exchanging ideas. Besides the posts she also provides us with some of the papers she has written for example on social networking and the issue of private and public and on youth, identity and online community.

The Internet offers a range of possibilities for anthropologists and the work of Michael Wesh with Youtube and that of Patricia Lange is fascinating. Moreover, the participation of students in it, make it highly relevant for teaching as well. Perhaps we should do things in the Netherlands too?

2 comments.

House of Glass – New publications by Al-Maqdisi

Posted on May 14th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Al-Maqdisi Book Cover

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi was not only the mentor and teacher of Al-Zarqawi but his texts also played a major role in several Dutch jihadi circles, in particular that of the Hofstad network. The murderer of filmdirector and writer Theo van Gogh translated several texts of Al-Maqdisi such as Millat Ibrahim.

My colleague Joas Wagemakers at Radboud University referred me to a new book published by Al-Maqdisi: Man Kana Baytahu min Zujaj fa-la Yarmi ghayrahu bi-Hajar – Qira’a wa-Ta’ammul fi Asfar al-‘Ahd al-Qadim wa-Muqarana bayna Akhbariha wa-bayna l-Qisas al-Qur’an al-‘Azim (He whose house is made of glass should not throw stones at others – A reading and contemplation on the books of the Old Testament and a comparison between its message and the stories of the magnificent Qur’an), www.tawhed.ws, February 2008.

The book is dedicated to:

Dedication

• to the Pope of the Vatican Benedict XVI, who claims that our religion is spread solely by the sword.
• to Geert Wilders, the Dutch MP who criticizes Islam, demands a ban on the Koran and describes it as a fascist book.
• to Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoon illustrator whose pen only ridicules those who are different from the Westergaard family. In fact, all of Europe is a stone in his shoe.
• to Van Gogh, the Dutch director who connects rape with the laws of Islam.
• to Wafa’ Sultan, who speaks evil of Islam and the Koran but turns a blind eye to the extreme manifestations of insanity in the books of the Jews and the Christians!
• to all “ye who turn judgment to wormwood”

You are ignorant of your religion or you ignore it …

I will make you understand it through these contemplations..

I say to you and those like you:

He whose house is made of glass should not throw stones at others

Abu Muhammad

The last in the list, “Ye who turn judgment to wormwood” is an excerpt from the book Amos (5:7) from the Old Testament ( “Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.”). The sentence pertains to justice which is the result of righteousness and seeking good. For more on this see HERE and HERE.  This refers Al-Maqdisi’s critique on Wilders, Wafa Sultan and others that Islam is different from the Islam as they present it.  With reference to the Old Testament, he points out that ‘Christians’ should not distort the ‘truth’.   Al-Maqdisi states that he will give a thorough analysis of the most sacred book of the Christians (but in his account its only the Old Testament).  By comparing the Bible texts with those of the Koran, Al-Maqdisi tries to show that in the Bible the original revelations of Moses and Jesus have been distorted.

Al-Maqdisi explains in the book how, according to his interpretation of Islam, people should reflect about God and how he is being described in the Old Testament.  He suggests that God in the Bible God is described rather antropomorphic, as a God with human characteristics; something that is inconsistent with Salafi thought. The same, according to Al-Maqdisi, can be said about how angels and prophets in the Bible are represented. In his book Al-Maqdisi gives examples of angels and prophets who would do things such as wine drinking, which according to Islam are prohibited. Also in the Bible King David is presented as very human, while in the Quran he is an almost perfect man. The end of the book contains several issues ( “Several rarities”) that struck him during reading the Bible, he writes about biblical names and addresses the “Texts I do not understand.”  Furthermore, he tries to show how texts in the Bible predict the prophet Muhammad.

According to Wagemaers Al-Maqdisi has written the book in prison following the remarks of the pope during his infamous speech in Germany.  On Al-Maqdisi’s website the book is presented along with an essay in which he attacks the pope: To the slave of the Cross … The English translation can be found on Tibyan or on Jarret Brachman’s website.

I do not know whether this book will reach the same popularity in jihadi circles as other writings of Al-Maqdisi, but the sneer to Wilders, Van Gogh and his analysis of the ‘distortion’ of the original message of Jesus and Moses will (although not new) undoubtedly be praised. We will probably have to wait for the English translation since the English version of To the slave of the Cross has been widely disseminated already (also among Dutch circles).

I would like to thank my colleague Joas Wagemakers for giving me the information. The information about the book of Al-Maqdisi in this post is based upon his information but the content and the representation in this post is my responsibility.

1 comment.

MOI Lezing: Cartoons, minorities, freedom of speech and self-censorship in Denmark – Jørgen S. Nielsen

Posted on May 13th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: (Upcoming) Events, ISIM/RU Research, Multiculti Issues, Public Islam.

MOI-Lezing

Datum: Maandag 18 mei, 19.30 uur
Plaats: Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21, Utrecht

The representation of religion in the public sphere can bring about major debates and conflicts. In the Netherlands, the limits of free speech and Dutch tolerance are to be tested in a court case after judges ruled that a right-wing MP Geert Wilders who compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and last year released the film Fitna, should be put on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination in his speeches. Similar issues can be found in other cases such as the “Muhammad Cartoons in 2005/2006. The Dutch Association for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (MOI) invites you to attend a lecture that will address the issues of freedom speech, self-censorship and the representation of religion:

“Cartoons, minorities, freedom of speech and self-censorship in Denmark“.

By Jørgen S. Nielsen

The publication on 30 September 2005 of the “Muhammad cartoons” by the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten is best known for the international crisis it provoked. Outside the country, however, less attention has been paid to the circumstances which led to the publication, at the centre of which was a debate about the balance between freedom of expression and self-censorship. The lecture will look at how the crisis developed domestically, the issues it raised and the following debate and locates it in the context of the mutual experiences of Muslim minorities and the national community.

Attendance is free, no registration required

Jørgen S. Nielsen is Professor of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, and currently a visiting professor at the University of Utrecht. He has previously held academic positions in Beirut, Birmingham (UK), and Damascus. Since 1978 his research has been focused on the situation of Muslims in Europe. He is author of Muslims in Western Europe (Edinburgh University Press, 1992, 2nd ed. 1995, 3rd ed. 2004; Arabic translation, Beirut: Saqi Press, 2006), and chief editor of the forthcoming Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Leiden: Brill.

MOI
The Dutch Association for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (MOI) MOI is the main professional organisation involved in Arabic-Islamic studies, social scientists, students, policy-makers and journalists. MOI organizes workshops, lectures and is involved in ZemZem, the Dutch periodical on the Middle East, North Africa and Islam.

More information can be found on:
MOI
http://www.moistudies.nl
info@moistudies.nl

ZEMZEM
http://www.zemzem.org

0 comments.

Closing the week 19

Posted on May 10th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere.

Closer

Most popular on Closer this week: Islamizing Europe: Muslim Demographics

Notice: The protected post on Al-Maqdisi will re-appear on Monday.

International (English)
Research

The Gallup Coexist Index 2009

A Global Study of Interfaith Relations offers insight into the state of relations between people of different religions around the world. Created in partnership with the Coexist Foundation, it marks Gallup’s first report of public perceptions concerning people of different faiths. In addition, the report provides an in-depth analysis of attitudes regarding integration among Muslims and the general public in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

See also Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at Comment is Free.
Religion & Politics

Pickled Politics » Geert Wilders’ great plan to save the west

Geert Wilders certainly believes in ‘freedom’, because he advocates a ten point plan to Save Western Civilisation:

1. Stop cultural relativism. We need an article in our constitutions that lays down that we have a Jewish-Christian and humanism culture.
2. Stop pretending that Islam is a religion. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. In other words, the right to religious freedom should not apply to Islam.
3. Stop mass immigration by people from Muslim countries. We have to end Al-Hijra.
4. Encourage voluntary repatriation.
5. Expel criminal foreigners and criminals with dual nationality, after denationalization, and send them back to their Arab countries. Likewise, expel all those who incite to a ‘violent jihad’.
6. We need an European First Amendment to strengthen free speech.
7. Have every member of a non-Western minority sign a legally binding contract of assimilation.
8. We need a binding pledge of allegiance in all Western countries.
9. Stop the building of new mosques. As long as no churches or synagogues are allowed to be build in countries like Saudi-Arabia we will not allow one more new mosque in our western countries. Close all mosques where incitement to violence is taking place. Close all Islamic schools, for they are fascist institutions and young children should not be educated an ideology of hate and violence.
10. Get rid of the current weak leaders. We have the privilege of living in a democracy. Let’s use that privilege and exchange cowards for heroes. We need more Churchills and less Chamberlains.

See also Back Towards The Locus
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: It’s time lily-livered Europe stood up to Muslim bigots | Opinion | The First Post

The terrifying paradox about these developments is that Muslim immigrants were admitted into European borders on the basis of universal rights and freedoms that a large number of them now trample on, while others perhaps watch passively, or seek to defend only the image of Islam.

Even worse, those who lobby to abolish freedom of expression and to discriminate against Jews, women and gays do so while using the vocabulary of freedom and through the institutions of parliament and the courts that were designed to protect the rights of all.

[…]

In reality, if Europe falls, it’s not because of Islam. It is because the Europeans of today – unlike their forbears in the Second World War – will not die to defend the values or the future of Europe. Even if they were asked to make the final sacrifice, many a post-modern lily-livered European would escape into an obscure mesh of conscientious objection. All that Islam has to do is walk into the vacuum.

Islam and democracy can – and do – coexist | Turkish Forum

Throughout all this, skeptics have argued that this is a lost cause, and that democracy and Islam are incompatible.

So it is heartening to see the integration of democracy and Islam taking place in three huge countries whose Muslim populations make up somewhere between a quarter and a third of the world’s entire Muslim populace.

Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population (205 million), is undergoing national elections that will strengthen its steady democratic progress. India, which has a minority population of some 150 million Muslims, is finishing up month-long elections for a nation of more than 1 billion people. Turkey, with a Muslim population of 77 million, is a working example of a secular democracy in a Muslim country.

These examples may not offer a blueprint for the mostly undemocratic Arab world. But their success does offer welcome evidence that Islam and democracy can coexist, maybe even integrate.

“Clash” Euphamisms IV: Sectarian “war inside Islam” « The Shape Of The World

pumping up Sufism as a political opponent to Salafism/Wahabism is also a politicization of Islam. I thought politicizing Islam was a threat. I guess, what matters is the praxis and the end that the politicization of religion would serve.

Hawaii Lawmakers Back The Creation Of ‘Islam Day’ – CBS News

Hawaii Lawmakers Back A Plan To Celebrate ‘Islam Day’ Despite Some Objections

(AP) Hawaii’s state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate “Islam Day” _ over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn’t want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

Politic religion, again — Crooked Timber

While the aesthetic defence of religion offered by Terry Eagleton might appeal to a small fraction of the intelligentsia, a far more common belief is that, regardless of truth value, religious belief makes people better citizens, and should therefore be encouraged.

See also Stanley Fish blog at NYTimes.com
YouTube – US troops urged to share faith in Afghanistan – 04 May 09

US soldiers in Afghanistan have been filmed with local language Bibles and urged to be “witnesses for Jesus” despite anti-proselytising rules. Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports.

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGmbzDLq5c /]

War On Terror News: DoD Corrects the Story – “Evangelizing Afghanistan”

Corrects the Story – “Evangelizing Afghanistan”
Officials Reject Allegations of Proselytizing in Afghanistan

“American servicemembers are allowed to hold religious services,” a Defense Department official speaking on background said. “The clip shows one of those services with an American chaplain leading a religious service for American servicemembers. In it, he spoke generically about the evangelical faith. That’s all there was to it.”

The chaplain did not urge servicemembers to go among the Afghan people and attempt to gain converts to Christianity, the official said.

[…]The film showed a discussion about the Bibles. “What it did not show was the chaplain counseling the young sergeant that distributing the Bibles was against U.S. Central Command’s General Order No. 1,” the official said. The chaplain confiscated the Bibles. “As far as we know, none ever got off base.”

[…]
General Order No. 1 specifically forbids “proselytizing of any faith, religion or practice.”

Terrorismus: Wie in Bonn ein Netzwerk von Islamisten entstand | Politik | Nachrichten auf ZEIT ONLINE

Bonn und sein islamistisches Milieu

Von Christian Denso
Wie entstehen die Netzwerke radikaler Islamisten in Deutschland, wie etablieren und verändern sie sich? Beobachtungen in der kleinen Stadt am Rhein

Book Review – ‘The Accidental Guerrilla,’ by David Kilcullen – Review – NYTimes.com

THE ACCIDENTAL GUERRILLA

Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One

By David Kilcullen

Illustrated. 346 pp. Oxford University Press. $27.95

David Kilcullen is a former officer in the Australian Army, a strategist and a scholar. He is also an expert on counterinsurgency, or how to combat a rebellion, and one of the few brave souls who had the ear of people in the Bush White House and advised against the invasion of Iraq.

“It’s going to take a lot more than you seem to be willing to commit,” he told the Americans. No one listened. After the invasion, Kilcullen watched the growing mayhem with outrage and dismay. This time people listened.

Gender
Princess Hijab: Advertising hijabist with a cause | Menassat

A young Paris-based guerilla street artist who calls herself Princess Hijab (PH) has been “hijabizing” advertisements, spray-painting veils and chadors onto the lightly dressed models. MENASSAT had a chat with the mysterious artist who says she is fighting Jihad through art.

Store bans those in burkhas after robbery – Times Online

Store bans those in burkhas after robbery
The Muslim owners of a Glasgow jewellers have decided not to serve veiled customers – but insist it isn’t due to racism

French Muslim Women: Daring to Take it to Court? – IslamOnline.net – European Muslims

Are you a French Muslim woman? Do you consider your veil an obstacle to having an active and productive live? Do you consider “the court option” as a last resort for overcoming your challenges?

the misogyny of the Ummah – City of Brass

I often find fault with the way in which Yasmin Alibhai-Brown makes her arguments in the pages of the Independent, but I have to concede that on the merits, her main arguments are usually sound. Her latest essay is a good example – she labels the state of women in the Ummah “a dark age” and it’s impossible for me to find honest fault with that assessment.

See also the comments at Indigo Jo.
The Difficulty of Being a Modern Muslim Woman

The Muslim gender dynamic – supposedly a singular, unchanging construct – has become a spectacle for everyone to gawk at, comment on, and ultimately use to ridicule the larger Muslim community.

But it is not just our neighbors who are gawking; Muslims often find themselves feeling awkward as well, especially as the news becomes stranger and more prevalent. Part of this is about Western Muslim women trying to make sense of supposedly religiously motivated gender oppression, but much of this is about reflecting on our individual spiritual cores – the place where we, in our quiet moments, wonder about our identity vis-à-vis the world, the part of us that cowers under the spotlight.

This self-reflection involves quite a bit of confusion, as it is hard to reconcile the heart-wrenching news of oppression with our daily experience of meeting, interacting with, living among – being – strong, confident, successful Muslim women.

Rights Versus Rites | The American Prospect

When it comes to the lives of women around the globe, do local traditions ever trump human rights?

Michelle Goldberg | April 28, 2009
On Feb. 6, 2007, two women, both of whom had been circumcised in Africa, met in the conference room of a small foundation on Fifth Avenue in New York City for a highly unusual debate. It was the fourth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation, an occasion for events across the globe dedicated to abolishing the practice. The gathering drew about 30 women, half of them African immigrants from countries including Senegal, Sudan, and Kenya, where female circumcision is common. Several of them were shocked to realize that, despite the name of the event, this wasn’t so much a discussion about how female circumcision can be eradicated as about whether it should be.

[..]At first glance, the two speakers seemed to symbolize the dichotomy between modernity and tradition, cosmopolitanism and cultural authenticity. Fuambai Ahmadu, the American-born daughter of a Sierra Leonean family, wore knee-high leather boots under a stylish rust-colored skirt. A postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, she looked younger than her 40 years. Beside her was Grace Mose, regal in a red African tunic, matching skirt, and head wrap. Her perfect English was deeply accented by her native Kenya, where she had grown up in an Abagusii village in the country’s southwest region. It was easy to imagine her as a champion of the line of midwives who have made their living cutting girls since the beginning of recorded history, women who are now being jailed in some countries for practicing a trade that once brought them money and pride.

But it wasn’t that simple. Ahmadu, not Mose, is the high-profile defender of female circumcision and the role it can play in inducting African girls into their societies. “My sitting here is a perfect example that female initiation can have a place in a global society,” she insisted. “I don’t see that initiation is somehow an impediment to girls’ development.” Circumcision and all that it represents in her culture, she said, “is an important source of my social identity. It’s what links me with my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my female ancestors. It celebrates our history, our connection.”

As she spoke, Mose, a fervent campaigner against the practice, glared at her. Unruffled, Ahmadu continued, arguing that in Sierra Leone, “female circumcision is empowering.” Toward the end of the debate, a Senegalese woman, incensed by Ahmadu, stood up and said, “I really feel very frustrated seeing an African sister defending female genital mutilation.” A few people applauded. She herself, she said, had not been cut and saw the practice as indefensible. “There is one thing we have to clarify. We have used here the term ‘female circumcision,’ which is a term that I do not like at all. Because it puts together two things that are totally different. We [should] talk about female mutilation. Why? When we circumcise a boy, that is skin that is cut off. Now when a female is, I’ll say, excised, that is the whole part that is taken out. That is completely different!”

Middle East
Egypt Has Yet to Feel Impact of FGM Ban

Egypt Has Yet to Feel Impact of FGM Ban
By Iman Azzi

In the year since Egypt outlawed female genital mutilation the government hasn’t prosecuted a single case. Nonetheless, some activists say the law is a tool, among others, for gradually dismantling an ancient tradition.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood dismisses Obama speech | Reuters

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood dismisses Obama speech

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood dismissed Saturday U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to the Muslim world from Egypt as part of a plan to keep Arab and Muslim states divided.

A Palestinian remembers the Holocaust – Haaretz – Israel News

A Palestinian remembers the Holocaust
By Aziz Abu Sarah

A few weeks ago, the world commemorated Holocaust Day with memorials, moments of silence, and time taken to remember the lives of loved ones lost.

For years this day has been a source of internal conflict for me as a Palestinian, so this year my wife Marie and I decided to hold our own memorial by doing something I have put off for a long time: we watched the movie “Schindler?s List.”

Canada’s Saviour Complex is Getting Old: Afghani Women and Canada « Muslim Lookout

The Ottawa Citizen perpetuates the myth that Western invasion has somehow been beneficial for Afghani women and it is just those “barbaric” Afghani men who are hurting women. It continues to paint Muslim women as oppressed damsels in distress and Muslim men as barbarians and monsters, thus perpetuating this racist discourse. It shifts the blame away from Western forces who have backed and supported the oppressive and violent regimes, and onto those “barbaric” Muslim men, because of course only they are capable of such actions (sarcasm). Such reporting only continues to hide the complacency and agency of Western forces in the continued oppression of Afghani women and dupes Canadians into thinking that our presence in Afghanistan is somehow beneficent. The reality, as we hear from Afghani women themselves, couldn’t be further from the truth.

altmuslimah.com – Saudi Arabia: It’s the first Saudi fashion show… no cameras allowed!

Saudi Arabia’s first women’s fashion show was held by the Nafisat Shams Al Biqa’ Academy in Jeddah last month, despite a restricted audience, clerical resistance, and a mixed reaction from the Saudi public. Nevertheless, it remains a breakthrough for Saudi fashion designers and for Saudi women in general.

True Muslim society protects women – Winnipeg Free Press

By: Shahina Siddiqui

The news of the brutal murder of Sitara Achakzai, a female member of Kandahar’s Provincial Council, earlier this month comes on the heel of the excruciating video of a young girl in Swat, Pakistan, being flogged by men in a public square for refusing to marry a man of her family’s choice. There is other news of lashings, floggings, maimings and murder of Muslim women at the hands of Muslim men from every corner of the Muslim world and I, a Muslim woman, can only cringe and cry out to the Creator for mercy and justice. Why is this barbarity being inflicted on my sisters, oh Lord, and why are these perpetrators going unpunished?

The era in which female babies were buried alive in Arabia is called the age of ignorance (jahiliya) — this is the era that Islam came to abolish, so it pains me to ask why we have returned to it. Can we blame this on war, poverty and foreign occupation? Can we really and truly look into the eyes of these women and offer such excuses for our inhumanity?

What is most disturbing is that these criminal behaviours are being cloaked in religious terms and there seems to be no credible voice challenging this gross violation of Islamic law and so these criminals continue to go about terrorizing with impunity. The continued silence of our scholars around the world is deafening and perplexing.

Myanmar tops list of worst places to be a blogger – CNN.com

Bloggers in Myanmar, Iran and Syria work under some of the most repressive conditions in the world, facing tactics such as regulation, intimidation and even imprisonment, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Myanmar, where students sit at an Internet cafe, tops a list of the worst places to be a blogger.

Myanmar, where students sit at an Internet cafe, tops a list of the worst places to be a blogger.

The organization released a list of the “10 worst countries to be a blogger” to call attention to online oppression in connection with World Press Freedom Day, which was observed Sunday.

“Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution, and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” the group’s executive director, Joel Simon, said in a report posted on the organization’s Web site. “But governments are quickly learning how to turn technology against bloggers by censoring and filtering the Internet, restricting online access and mining personal data.

“When all else fails, the authorities simply jail a few bloggers to intimidate the rest of the online community into silence or self-censorship.”

Black Iraqis make their political debut in provincial polls | World news | guardian.co.uk

In Iraq’s deep south another American-led revolution is stirring. But this time it is being sparked by popular voice, not bombs.

The country’s 1m-plus black citizens have tapped into Obama-mania like few other groups across the Arab world. For them Obama’s inauguration was the dawn of a civil rights movement that they never had the impetus to strive for.

Black Iraqis will this week stand for the first time as an electoral bloc in provincial polls that will help shape Iraq in its slow transition to full sovereignty and possibly help shake off the stereotype that places them near the top of the heap in a nation of persecuted minorities.

Op-Ed Contributor – Hamas Comes Out of Hiding – NYTimes.com

Pressed on policy changes that Hamas might make as a gesture to any new order, Mr. Mishal argued that the organization has already shifted on several key points: “Hamas has already changed — we accepted the national accords for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, and we took part in the 2006 Palestinian elections.”

On the crucial question of rewriting the Hamas charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, he was unbending: “Not a chance.” Khalid Mishal is not Yasir Arafat — he is not looking for a Nobel Peace Prize. Among the Hamas articles of faith is a belief that in renouncing violence and in recognizing Israel’s right to exist in 1993, Mr. Arafat sinned against his people. (Nonetheless, others to whom he speaks have told me that Mr. Mishal has said that “when the time comes,” Hamas will make some of the moves demanded of it by the West.)

[…]

Over the long term, Hamas accepts the concept of two states in the Levant, which arguably puts Mr. Mishal’s terrorist movement closer to Washington than Mr. Netanyahu is — he now proposes only “economic peace” between Jews and Palestinians.

Dutch
Surinaamse Nederlanders perfect geïntegreerd? – WERELDOMROEP – Surinaams

Schuster over de perfect geïntegreerde Surinamer: “Het is werkelijkheid, want Surinamers scoren hoog op alle indicatoren waar integratie op gemeten wordt.” Maar er zit volgens de antropoloog toch een mythische kant aan dit integratieverhaal. En dat is de boodschap die overgebracht wordt naar andere nieuwkomers. Schuster: “Aan de andere groepen wordt gezegd dat je pas perfect geïntegreerd bent als je doet zoals de Surinamers en dus eigenlijk doet zoals wij.”

Doneermaand Poldermoskee

Helaas moet het bestuur van de Poldermoskee constateren dat we -door financiële perikelen- niet de stappen vooruit kunnen maken, die wij zo graag willen maken. Om de deuren open te houden heeft de Poldermoskee geld nodig. Daarom staat de maand mei in het teken van de Doneermaand van de Poldermoskee. Tijdens deze maand worden tal van educatieve, maatschappelijke en religieuze activiteiten georganiseerd met als belangrijkste doel: geld inzamelen. Op deze website kun je precies lezen welke activiteiten worden georganiseerd en hoe jij jouw bijdrage aan de Poldermoskee kunt leveren!

Nederlands Dagblad – SGP-jongeren blijven tegen moskeeën

door onze redacteur Aldwin Geluk
De SGP-jongeren stellen in hun nieuwe beginselverklaring ,,christelijk verdraagzaam” te zijn, maar willen desondanks de bouw van moskeeën verbieden. Op de foto de Selimiye moskee, die op 23 februari 2008 voor de Turkse gemeenschap in Haarlem geopend werd.

APELDOORN – In de nieuwe beginselen stellen de SGP-jongeren ,,christelijk verdraagzaam” te zijn, maar de SGP-jeugd wil desondanks de bouw van moskeeën verbieden.

Bond tegen vloeken vangt bot om film ”God bestaat niet” – Binnenland – Reformatorisch Dagblad

De Bond tegen het vloeken heeft opnieuw verloren in zijn strijd tegen het RVU-programma ”God bestaat niet”.

VEENENDAAL – De Bond tegen het vloeken heeft opnieuw verloren in zijn strijd tegen het RVU-programma ”God bestaat niet”, waarin filmpjes met Jezus Christus aangelijnd als hond werden getoond.

Protest tegen blasfemische filmpjes loopt op niets uit – Binnenland – Reformatorisch Dagblad

Protest tegen blasfemische filmpjes loopt op niets uit

AMSTERDAM – Het Amsterdamse gerechtshof ziet geen strafbaar feit in het uitbeelden van de Heere Jezus als aangelijnde hond, zo werd vrijdag bekend. Het protest van de Bond tegen het vloeken tegen de RVU-film ”God bestaat niet” is daarmee op niets uitgelopen. Waar gaat de kwestie precies over? Vijf vragen.

„Wet moet tegen smaad beschermen” – Binnenland – Reformatorisch Dagblad

„Wet moet tegen smaad beschermen”

DEN HAAG – De wet moet garanties bieden aan mensen die zich buitengesloten voelen wegens smaad en godslastering.

Dat stelt CDA-Kamerlid Van Haersma Buma desgevraagd naar aanleiding van de uitspraak van het Amsterdamse gerechtshof in de zaak tussen de Bond tegen het vloeken en de RVU.

De rechtbank ziet geen reden de RVU te vervolgen vanwege blasfemische beelden.

Moslims: ‘Gescheiden kamers in ziekenhuizen’ – Binnenland – Algemeen – bndestem

Moslims: ‘Gescheiden kamers in ziekenhuizen’

door Cyril Rosman

BREDA/BERGEN OP ZOOM – Moslimorganisaties in Breda hebben bij het Amphia Ziekenhuis aangedrongen mannen en vrouwen weer op aparte kamers te verplegen. “Veel moslimvrouwen vinden het uit religieuze overtuiging niet prettig een halfnaakte man in het bed naast hen te hebben”, zegt Driss Siraji, die namens de Migrantenraad en de Arrahmanmoskee met het ziekenhuis sprak.

Allochtonenweblog: De opkomst van de polderislam

Terwijl Geert Wilders hamert op de islamitische samenzwering, zoeken moslimjongeren naar manieren om hun geloof in te bedden in hun Nederlandse bestaan. Er ontstaat een gematigde ‘polderislam’. Dat is deze week te lezen in een dossier in De Groene Amsterdammer. Een artikel van Joeri Boom staat online, voor het artikel ‘hoe kweek je polderimams?’en ‘lessen voor gematigde moslims’ van Fouad Laroui moet je naar de kiosk.

Wereldjournalisten Geschiedenis Marokkanen

Geschiedenis Marokkanen

Donderdag 07 mei 2009 | Redactie Wereldjournalisten
Na de Slovenen en de Italianen is het nu de beurt aan de Marokkanen om hun geschiedenis te vertellen. Op 10 mei wordt het boek “Marokkanen in Nederland. De pioniers vertellen” gepresenteerd in het Museon in Den Haag. Het is het vierde boek in vier maanden tijd over migratiegeschiedenis.

AD.nl – Buitenland – Paus: Diep respect voor islam

Paus: Diep respect voor islam
AMMAN – Paus Benedictus XVI is gisteren in Jordanië begonnen aan zijn eerste reis naar het Midden-Oosten. Koning Abdullah II en koningin Rania van Jordanië wachtten hem met honderden christenen op de luchthaven van Amman op.
afbeelding vergroten Welkom voor de Paus bij aankomst in Amman, Jordanië. FOTO EPA
De paus wil met zijn achtdaagse bezoek de kloof met joden en moslims overbruggen.

Islam in het Westen: Koninginnedag 2009: drama of terreur?

Het ‘incident’ dat een einde maakte aan Apeldoorns Koninginnedag eiste tot nu toe 7 doden, onder wie de dader, en 8 gewonden. Dit incident is veelzeggend. Niet omdat, zoals de media graag wil, Koninginnedag nooit mee hetzelfde zal zijn, maar omdat het ongewild de definitie van terreur heeft verduidelijkt.

AD.nl – Binnenland – Verbijstering over problemen moskee

Verbijstering over problemen moskee
ROTTERDAM – De Rotterdamse gemeenteraad reageert verbijsterd op het zoveelste probleem met de nieuwe Essalam-moskee in Feijenoord.
afbeelding vergroten De Essalam moskee in aanbouw. FOTO CEES KUIPER
De bouwwerkzaamheden zijn – voor de derde keer in twee jaar – grotendeels stilgelegd. Dit keer omdat de opdrachtgever uit de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten al geruime tijd de rekeningen niet heeft betaald.

De bouw van het gebedshuis duurt nu al ruim zes jaar.

Amsterdam zet punt achter contract met moskeeën – Nederland – Dagblad van het Noorden

Het Amsterdamse stadsdeel De Baarsjes gaat niet verder met het contract met enkele moskeeën. Die overeenkomst uit 2004 had onder meer als doel extremisme tegen te gaan. Dat heeft het stadsdeel zaterdag laten weten.

Door het contract te ondertekenen beloofden de moskeeën in de gaten te houden of personen radicaliseerden. Zo ja, dan zouden ze met diegenen in gesprek gaan. Bij strafbare feiten zouden de gebedshuizen aangifte doen bij de politie.

De overeenkomst heeft echter nauwelijks bijgedragen aan het signaleren van extremisme.

Nationaliteit van een moslim en zijn geloof « Islamtawheed’s Blog

Islam kwam om slechts één relatie te vestigen die de mens verbind met elkaar voor in het zicht van Allah, en als deze relatie sterk gevestigd is, dan zullen alle andere relaties gebasseerd op bloed of andere omstandigheden te niet worden gedaan.

NOSJOURNAAL – Berisping voor ‘zittende advocaat’

De Rotterdamse advocaat Mohammed Enait is berispt, omdat hij weigert op te staan als de rechter de zaal inkomt. De deken van de Orde van Advocaten had daarover geklaagd.

Als Enait na de berisping opnieuw in de rechtszaal blijft zitten, zal de Raad van Discipline hem schorsen.

Oplossing voor Diamantbuurt-tuig | KAJ’S BLOG

Al die Marokkanen hier die zich keurig gedragen en gewoon lekker willen leven zoals iedereen, zijn het spuugzat dat zo’n kleine groep criminelen het telkens weer voor hen verpest. Want al deze Marokkanen worden aangekeken op de acties van die criminelen. Veruit de meeste Marokkanen hebben hun keuze al lang geleden gemaakt; het aantal Marokkanen dat destijds op Pim Fortuyn stemde, mag niet onderschat worden.

Die kleine groep criminelen zijn overigens geen ‘Robin Hoods’, of anderszins subculturele helden, voorbeelden voor hun jongere broertjes, een rol waar die criminelen zich maar al te graag in wentelen als een soort van bescherming. Nee, zij zijn degenen die het louter om geld te doen is en die het voor Marokkanen juist vergallen.

Het is dit soort crimineel gedrag, in combinatie met hun Marokkaanse afkomst, die mensen als Geert Wilders steeds weer ammunitie geven om de héle Marokkaanse gemeenschap over één kam te scheren. Dat soort stigmatisering – want dat is het – geeft die harde criminelen een warm bedje, een muur (de Marokkaanse gemeenschap) waarachter zij zich kunnen verschuilen, een manier om zich in de slachtoffer-rol te kunnen wentelen. Dat moet gestopt worden.

Er rest de landelijke politiek nu niets anders meer dan de korpsbeheerders te voorzien van gereedschap waarmee zij deze hardcore criminele Marokkanen uit hun gemeenschap kunnen halen, en isoleren.

Allerachterste Rij: Marokkaanse netheid

Een gevoel van opluchting ging door de coupé, en de hele situatie werd prachtig opgesomd door een vrouw van middelbare leeftijd: “stelletje idioten…” Een korte dank kwam tussen de lippen van de jongedame vandaan, snel gevolgd door zichtbare tanden en het omkrullen van de lippen. De hele situatie stelde niet veel voor. Er werden geen zwaarden getrokken, of met pijl en boog geschoten, om de hand van deze jongedame te winnen. Nee, het was gewoon een alledaagse situatie waarin twee hufters anderen lastigvallen. Ik was blij dat het niet om twee Marokkanen ging, want je ziet tegenwoordig toch zo veel. Het toppunt was natuurlijk de ingeburgerde Marokkaanse jongen die hier juist als een held zijn mond opendeed.

0 comments.

Het glazen huis – Al Maqdisi Jihadi Controverse en nieuwe publicatie

Posted on May 8th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Headline, ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Op de hoogte blijven? Abonneer je dan op Closer: HIER.

Abu Mohammed al-Maqdisi is een Jordaans-Palestijnse islam-geleerde. Hij is één van de meest invloedrijke ‘jihad-theoretici’ en ideologen van de mondiale jihad. In zijn werk gaat het om een oppositionele interpretatie van de islam waarbij de huidige regimes in het Midden-Oosten als afvallig gezien worden. Deze regimes kunnen daarom, indien mogelijk, bestreden worden met als doel een ‘ware’ islamitische staat te vestigen. Hij heeft bij het bredere publiek vooral bekend genoten als mentor en inspirator van Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi; één van de meest beruchte strijders in Irak onder de Amerikaanse bezetting.

Wat nu precies zijn invloed is, hoe hij anderen heeft beïnvloed en waarom is lastig vast te stellen. Onderzoek van mijn Nijmeegse collega Joas Wagemakers richt zich precies op die vragen in een fascinerend onderzoeksproject.

Wat in ieder geval wel duidelijk is, is dat op internet tal van (vertaalde) teksten van Al-Maqdisi, of fragmenten ervan, rondzwerven op fora, weblogs en andere sites. De website van Al-Maqdisi, Tawhed.ws, bevat een grote bibliotheek aan allerlei geschriften. Verschillende werken van Al-Maqdisi zijn vertaald in het Engels en Nederlands. Een voorbeeld van dit laatste is het geschrift Dit is onze aqiedah. Veel bekeken en beluisterd is een video van een huwelijksfeest waar Al Maqdisi aanwezig was.

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsTLk_m9B9k /]

Een andere zeer belangrijke tekst is Millat Ibrahim (godsdienst van Abraham), waarin Al-Maqdisi onder meer in gaat op het principe al-Walaa’ wal Baraa’ (loyaliteit/liefde en distantie/haat omwille van God). Deze tekst is onder meer door Mohammed Bouyeri vertaald en werd door enkelen binnen het Hofstad netwerk beschouwd als een kerntekst van de islam. En ook voor anderen is deze zeer belangrijk. Al-Maqdisi werd gearresteerd en veroordeeld op basis van beschuldigingen die betrekking hadden op terrorisme. Inmiddels is hij weer vrij.

Recent woedde er op diverse Arabischtalige sites nog een discussie over hem. Door een jongere generatie jihadisten, met name posters op het forum Midad al-Suyuf, werd Al-Maqdisi ervan beschuldigd ‘soft’ te zijn te geworden. (Een discussie die ik niet tegen ben gekomen in Nederland, maar dat zegt ook niet alles.) In zijn chatroom ging Al-Maqdisi in op de aantijgingen. Hij stelde onder meer dat hij verbaasd was over het lage denkniveau en dat anderen hem beter begrepen dan de jihad-jongeren die hem bekritiseerden. Opvallend daarbij was dat Al-Maqdisi daarbij verwees naar de oprichter van de website Jihadica, Will McCants, die zich bezighoudt met het gedachtegoed van jihadisten:

Maqdisi invokes McCants — jihadica

The al-Maqdisi controversy has taken a very interesting new turn. In a statement posted his website earlier this week, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi cited several Western scholars, including Dutch al-Maqdisi specialist Joas Wagemakers and Jihadica founder Will McCants, to make the point that his enemies understand him better than his detractors in the jihadi community do.

En inderdaad hij verwees daarbij ook naar mijn collega Joas Wagemakers; iets wat ook de New York Times is opgevallen in een recent artikel over de controverse. (Bij het artikel van de NYT vindt u in de linkerkolom ook een podcast, die de moeite waard is om te beluisteren. De auteur van dat stuk baseert zich in zijn podcast grotendeels op Joas Wagemakers.) Niet dat Joas Wagemakers (of McCants) het nou zo nodig moet opnemen voor Al-Maqdisi (dat kan Al-Maqdisi waarschijnlijk zeer goed zelf wel en het is ook niet de taak van onderzoekers), maar op basis van zijn eigen onderzoek wees Joas Wagemakers onder meer op de tegenstelling tussen jihad-denkers (zoals Al Maqdisi) en jihad-strijders (zoals Al Zarqawi). Dit kunnen we zien in het volgende commentaar dat Joas Wagemakers gaf op de website Jihadica:

More Fitna in Cyberspace: Mihdar vs al-Maqdisi — jihadica

I believe that this conflict between fighters and non-fighters goes back to the 1990s, when many of these people were in prison together. While they went to gaol sharing more or less the same beliefs, once they were in prison the differences started to surface. One of these differences was related to battlefield experience and the willingness to go to a foreign front and fight the far enemy. In prison, divisions started to rear their heads between those who’d been in Afghanistan to fight and those who hadn’t, with the former group increasing in stature in the eyes of many inmates. I believe that the current conflicts that you describe and that Jihadica has written about before are partly rooted in frustration over this issue that dates back to this period, when Al-Zarqawi, ‘Abd al-Hadi Daghlas and others risked life and limb by joining the fight in Afghanistan or Iraq while Al-Maqdisi and others preferred to stay in Jordan and, perhaps more importantly, to focus on da’wa. While these conflicts did not come to the fore until years later, I believe that the seeds of the fighters’ resentment towards Al-Maqdisi c.s. were sown in the 1990s. Knowing this, one can imagine that Al-Maqdisi’s criticism of Al-Zarqawi and others in 2004, 2005 and 2008 was interpreted by the fighters with this resentment still in mind. Several people saw his criticism as further proof that Al-Maqdisi is a hypocrite who talks the talk but when push comes to shove, he doesn’t have the guts to back up his words. I believe this accusation does not do justice to Al-Maqdisi’s views, which are more complex than this reasoning suggests, but it nevertheless was and still is a not uncommon view among certain Jordanian Jihadi-Salafis.

Op Jihadica kunnen we verder lezen dat niet alleen McCants en Wagemakers intussen worden aangehaald door jihadisten. Ook de uitstekende studie van Brynjar Lia Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al Qai’dah Strategist Abu Mus’ab al-Suri krijgt het zegel der goedkeuring onder meer op The Ignored Puzzle Pieces of Knowledge. De studies van Rand Corporation en de Militant Ideology Atlas en het FFI rapport van Hanna Rogan over Jihadism Online zijn vertaald naar het Arabisch terug te vinden op de site van Al-Maqdisi (de eerste twee alleen in samenvatting).

Al-Maqdisi book cover

Joas Wagemakers maakte mij erop attent dat Al-Maqdisi zeer recent een nieuw boek heeft gepubliceerd: Man Kana Baytahu min Zujaj fa-la Yarmi ghayrahu bi-Hajar – Qira’a wa-Ta’ammul fi Asfar al-‘Ahd al-Qadim wa-Muqarana bayna Akhbariha wa-bayna l-Qisas al-Qur’an al-‘Azim (Wie een huis van glas heeft moet een ander niet met stenen bekogelen – Een lezing en beschouwing over de boeken van het Oude Testament en een vergelijking tussen zijn boodschap en de verhalen van de geweldige koran), www.tawhed.ws, februari 2008. Al-Maqdisi heeft het boek in de gevangenis geschreven n.a.v. de opmerkingen van de paus tijdens zijn beruchte toespraak in Duitsland. Op Al-Maqdisi’s website wordt het boek gepresenteerd samen met een artikel  To the slave of the Cross… dat in Engelse vertaling terug te vinden is op Tibyan, waarin specifiek de paus wordt aangevallen.

Mijn collega Joas Wagemakers heeft het bewuste boek en het mag opvallend genoemd worden. (De volgende informatie is van hem afkomstig, evenals de vertalingen). Op pagina 2, staat een opvallende boodschap/opdracht:

Opdracht

• aan de paus van het Vaticaan Benedictus XVI, die beweerde dat onze godsdienst alleen door het zwaard is verspreid.
• aan Geert Wilders, het Nederlandse parlementslid, die de islam bekritiseert, een verbod op de koran eist en het als een fascistisch boek heeft omschreven.
• aan Kurt Westergaard, de Deense cartoontekenaar, wiens pen alleen degenen belachelijk maakt die anders zijn dan de familie Westergaard. Heel Europa is zelfs een steen in zijn schoen.
• aan Van Gogh, de Nederlandse regisseur, die verkrachting verbindt met de wetten van de islam.
• aan Wafa’ Sultan, die kwaad spreekt van de islam en de koran maar haar ogen sluit voor de extreme uitingen van waanzin die in de boeken van de joden en de christenen staan!
• aan al “degenen die het recht in alsem verkeren”

Jullie weten niets over jullie godsdienst of jullie negeren hem…

Ik laat jullie er kennis mee maken door deze beschouwingen..

Ik zeg tot jullie en degenen die net zo zijn als jullie:

Wie een huis van glas heeft moet een ander niet met stenen bekogelen.

Abu Muhammad

Het laatste in de opsomming, “die het recht in alsem verkeren” is een fragment uit het boek Amos (5:7) uit het Oude Testament (“Die het recht in alsem verkeren, en de gerechtigheid ter aarde doen liggen”). Deze uitdrukking heeft betrekking op het verwijt van Al-Maqdisi aan Wilders, Wafa Sultan e.a. dat ze de islam anders afschilderen dan die is volgens Al-Maqdisi. Met de verwijzing naar het Oude Testament wijst hij erop dat ‘christenen’ de ‘waarheid’ niet moeten verdraaien. Al-Maqdisi kaatst de bal terug door te stellen dat hij een grondige analyse zal geven van het meest heilige boek van de christenen (maar heeft het daarbij alleen over het Oude Testament). Door de Bijbel teksten te vergelijken met die van de Koran wil hij laten zien dat in de Bijbel de oorspronkelijke openbaringen van Mozes en Jezus zouden zijn verdraaid.

Al-Maqdisi legt in het boek uit hoe er volgens de islam gedacht zou moeten worden over God en hoe er in het Oude Testament over wordt geschreven. Hij stelt dan dat God in de bijbel nogal antropomorfisch behandeld wordt waarmee wordt bedoeld dat God van menselijke gedaante zou zijn iets wat niet strookt met het salafistische gedachtegoed. Deze lijn trekt hij door in zijn behandeling over hoe engelen en profeten in de Bijbel worden gerepresenteerd. Al-Maqdisi geeft in zijn boek voorbeelden van engelen en profeten die dingen zouden doen die volgens de islam verboden zijn, zoals wijn drinken. Zo zou koning David in de Bijbel heel menselijk voorgesteld worden, terwijl hij in de Koran een nagenoeg perfecte man zou zijn. Het einde van het boek bevat diverse zaken (“Verscheidene rariteiten”) die hem zijn op gevallen tijdens het lezen van de Bijbel, gaat hij in op bijbelse namen en behandelt hij “Teksten die ik niet begrepen heb”. Verder stelt hij (uiteraard) ook nog dat de bijbel teksten bevat die al vooruitwijzen naar Mohammed.

Ik weet niet of dit boek eenzelfde populariteit zal bereiken onder jihadi-kringen als andere geschriften van Al-Maqdisi, maar de sneer naar Wilders, Van Gogh en zijn analyse van de verdraaiing van de oorspronkelijke boodschap van Jezus en Mozes zal (hoewel niet nieuw) ongetwijfeld in goede aarde vallen. Wellicht dat ik later deze week nog een link naar het boek zal geven.

Op de hoogte blijven? Abonneer je dan op Closer: HIER.

27 comments.

Nikolaos van Dam: The Global Political Trend and the Role of Islam: The Academic Responsibility of Muslim Scholars

Posted on May 5th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

The Dutch Ambassador in Indonesia, Nikolaos van Dam, has delivered a speech on the occasion of the graduation ceremony of The Institute for Qur’anic Studies Jakarta, at Jakarta Convention Center, 29 April 2009. The complete text of the ‘Orasi Ilmiah’ The Global Political Trend and the Role of Islam: The Academic Responsibility of Muslim Scholars:

Your Excellency Dr. Maftuh Basyuni, Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia;
Dr. Fauzi Bowo, Governor of DKI Jakarta;
Prof. Dr. Nasaruddin Umar, Rector of The Institute for Qur’anic Studies Jakarta;
Excellencies, colleague Ambassadors of befriended states;
Respected invitees and graduates,

I have been asked to speak about “The Global Political Trend and the Role of Islam: The Academic Responsibility of Muslim Scholars”. This will lead me also to a discussion about the issue of the responsibility of Western scholars and their dialogue with Muslim scholars. Together these scholars could play an important role in helping achieve a better understanding
of Islam and the role it plays in global politics.

What is Islamic and what not?

It is not only important to explain what Islam really is, but it is also important to make a distinction between what, in fact, involves Islam, and what people have incorrectly associated with and attributed to it. What is the relation between Islam and the actions of people that practice the Muslim faith? In my opinion All this has contributed a lot to existing misunderstandings. A lot of these misunderstandings have to do with false perceptions, but not with academic reality. Although one might also argue that perceptions become academic
realities if people believe their perceptions to be true. The responsibility of scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, is therefore to subject these perceptions to a reality test, particularly if this can help in providing a global forum which would help create a better mutual understanding, as well as a stronger cross-cultural friendship.

But not only scholars can give a helping hand. Governments and countries, too, can play an important role, particularly if they can fulfill the role of building a bridge between conflicting parties or cultures. But we must place these so-called bridge functions in the right perspective.

Bridge functions

Time and again I have heard about the potential “bridge functions” of certain countries, indicating that these countries could play an important role in helping improve understanding between different parties or cultures, or helping establish peace between hostile countries.
By way of an example: Indonesia is said to have the potential to play a large bridge function between the Islamic and Western world, in particular because it can be considered as a peaceful and successful democracy with a Muslim majority.
Turkey is supposed by some observers to be able to fulfill a bridging function between Europe and the Islamic world, because it is geographically located between them and is itself considered as both Muslim and democratic. According to yet other – in my view unrealistic observers – Israel could fulfill a bridge function between the West and the Arab Middle East, whereas a democratic Iraq could be a bridge between the democratic West helping spread
democracy in the Middle East, and so on. It seems as if the view of some of these observers is blurred or blinded by a kind of fixation on Islam as a religion, or democracy as an ideology.
Some countries are embellished with the epithet of being located at cross roads between various cultures or continents, or having geographic strategic importance. Turkey is seen by some as the cross roads between Europe and Asia, between the Christian and Muslim world. Egypt is part of both Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and therefore can play an important role in this context, and so on.

Some of these bridge visions which I just mentioned have also been expressed by various prominent Western politicians. What is essential in this respect, is to pose the question of whether or not the parties directly involved do themselves appreciate such a bridge function of other mediating parties. If their perception of it is positive on both sides, then the chances of success are there. But in the Arab Middle East, Israel is certainly not viewed as a potential
candidate capable of fulfilling a bridge function with the West, because Israel is seen as an adversary, to put it mildly. The Arab states prefer their own direct contacts with the West and do not want third parties in between. The same applies to Turkey, being a non-Arab country. Being a Muslim democratic country does not make any difference.
Indonesia is from the Arab Middle Eastern perspective more often than not seen as a country in the periphery of the Islamic world, which thereby would not havea natural central role.
Nevertheless, if Indonesia is seen as an important bridge from the view of the West, it can be useful to further explore this view so as to help achieve a better relation between the West and what is viewed from there as “the Islamic world”. If that perception is not there, it may be helpful to convince them of its usefulness.

Regional, cultural or religious identity?
African, European, Asiatic, Arab, Islamic or Christian? Today I want to report about some of my experiences with the Islamic dimension in various countries where I have lived as a diplomat, as an academic or as a student: chronologically in Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Germany and finally in Indonesia. With the exception of Germany all of these
countries are considered as Islamic countries, or better said: countries all having an Islamic majority, and being members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Let me first, however, introduce myself to those who do not know me, and tell something about the countries where I have worked. During the past twenty-one years I have worked as ambassador in Baghdad, Cairo, Ankara, Bonn-Berlin and Jakarta. Before that I was Charge d’Affaires a.i. in Tripoli (Libya) and in 1980 I started my first posting abroad for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beirut, Lebanon. From Lebanon I also covered Jordan, the Palestinian Occupied Territories and Cyprus. From Ankara I was co-accredited in Azarbaijan, and from Jakarta I also cover Timor Leste. As a student I made various study journeys to, among others, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Many have noted that I have been working almost exclusively in Islamic countries. But you can also formulate it quite diffferently: I served in two African posts (Egypt and Libya), three Asiatic countries (Lebanon, Iraq and Indonesia), and in two European countries (Germany and Turkey). It just depends on the glasses through which you are looking, or the way you want to
see it. Some will readily say that Egypt and Libya actually are not really African countries but Middle Eastern ones, irrespective of the fact that they are both located in the African continent and that their political leaders have over the years developed ideas clearly containing an African component. Yet others have the opinion that also Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are not real Asiatic countries, and that they should actually be considered as Arab ones,
irrespective of the fact that they are located in the Asian continent. Again others will say that Turkey, when it really comes to the point, actually is not at all a European country, but actually more Middle Eastern. Nobody can deny the fact that the largest part of Turkey is geographically located in Asia, as is allready indicated by the name of Asia Minor. The Turkification of the population of Asia Minor, which today has the Turkish language as mother tongue, started only as late as the eleventh century as a result of the immigrations of Turkish tribes who came from Central Asia, and had, also because of their Altaic language a clear Asiatic background. But today many Turks prefer to call themselves Europeans because they want to belong to Europe, irrespective of the fact that the original ethnic Turks had a clear Asiatic background. This wish to be European also emanates from the Kemalist ideology which indicates that Turkey should direct itself more towards modern Europe, because it belongs more to that part of the world, irrespective of the fact that the former capital Istanbul originally was the center of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which had its centre of gravity in the Middle East and North Africa, and not at all in Europe. (This is not to ignore the fact that the Ottoman Empire has also left clear traces in the Balkan, like for instance in Bosnia-Herzegowina.
And in the past, the Ottoman Sultan was even called “The Sick Man of Europe”).

And to make it even more complex: being a Turk in modern Turkey no longer necessarily implies having a Turkish ethnic background, but rather having an identity which is linked to the territory of the Turkish state. Today one can speak of, for instance, Turks of Turkish ethnic origin, Turks of Kurdish ethnic origin, Turks of Arab ethnic origin, Turks of Armenian ethnic origin, and so on. Although the number of Turks of Turkish ethnic origin may not be that big, the Turks of Turkey, or Turkey-Turks, nevertheless feel themselves linked with many of their Turkish-speaking “brothers and sisters” who live outside Turkey, like, for instance, the Turkish Cypriots, and the Turkic speaking populations of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asiatic countries. And whereas the Turkey-Turks today are focused mainly on Europe, they at the same time wish to keep an eye on their Turkish speaking Asiatic brothers, preferably in the role of the bigger brother, whose attitude tends to be perceived by the
other Turkish speaking parties as a kind of tutelage.

By way of analogy, one can speak of Indonesians of Javanese ethnic origin, of Minangkabau origin, of Bugis origin, Papua origin and so on, who are all bound together by their united and unifying language of Bahasa Indonesia, combined with their common territory of the Republic of Indonesia. Additionally, Indonesia has a special link with other Malay speaking countries in the region.

The separation of the Arab countries from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century was at the time seen by the Young Turks as a kind of betrayal towards those Turks whose nationalism actually had very much in common with Arab nationalism. The Turkish nationalists actually reproached the Arab nationalists of wanting something similar as what they aimed for themselves: notably the establishment of their own national state, which was based on their respective ethnic or linguistic identity. It goes without saying that both parties – Turks and Arabs – were aiming at controling as large a territory as possible. It did not disturb them if these territories would include also other important ethnic groups with a different ethnic or linguistic identity, different from the main ethnic group controling the new nation-state.

But what about the geographical position of Indonesia? To which continent does it belong? When I received the good news about my transfer from Berlin, my previous posting, to Jakarta, the first thing I did was to go to a bookshop to look for travel guides about Indonesia. But in the sections dealing with Asia and South East Asia I could not find any book on Indonesia. Until I finally had a look in the section Oceania and the Pacific. I was surprised to find the Indonesia books in that section, until I realised that Indonesia actually covers two continents, of which the border line runs trough the deep waterway between Bali and Lombok, at the so-called “Wallace Line”. To the east of this line we can find Kangaroos and other marsupials, but not to the west of it. The reason for this is clear: these animals in the past, when the sealevel was much lower, could not cross this sea straight because it remained too deep for them. As a result, divergent developments took place on both sides, also in the field of flora. But these deep straights did not prevent human beings from migrating all over the area which is today called the Archipelago.

The Austronesian languages spread out all over the area from Madagascar to New Zealand, but did not succeed in the past to penetrate into the Melanesian heartland of Papua. But in modern times this has started to change. Generally it can be said that the boundaries of Indonesia with its huge territory and extraordinary rich diversity, are not determined by ethnicity, language, or the fact of belonging to one or more continents, but rather by its colonial history. The colonial boundaries in the end became the boundaries of the Republic of
Indonesia. Not one inch more and not one inch less.

Should one conclude that Indonesia is Asiatic? Or Oceanic? I am inclined to conclude that it is both, when taking the geographical, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds of its population into consideration. But in my personal perception and my way of thinking, the Asiatic dimension generally prevails. This probably has to do with the political map of Indonesia with which I was raised. But perhaps also because, being a Dutchman, I am used to looking from West to
East instead of the other way around (like an Australian would probably do). And I had never heard of that Wallace line before I went to Indonesia. When looking at it with hindsight, the Wallace Line is no more than a scientific discovery, be it a very important one. But this discovery has not had any consequences for the composition of the human population and the cultures of Indonesia.

The first political map which is imprinted in one’s mind or memory, whether it be at school or elsewhere, is to a great extent decisive for the picture one has of the world. Usually it is a political map which is derived from the political realities of the day.

You may ask yourself why it is that I have given such a long introducttion about the various postings I had. But that is only to demonstrate how different identities can be approached, or how they can even be manipulated. And how the importance which is ascribed to those identities can shift in the course of time.
Is it about regional, cultural or religious identities? Or is it about a combination of them, the composition of which is determined according to what suits the argument best? Or is it about periods of time in which certain ideas prevail? Such as nationalism, capitalism, socialism, secularism, religion or religious fundamentalism, or a combination of some of these factors? Is it about being African, European, Asiatic, Oceanic, Arab or Islamic, or even Christian? What
was seen in the past as being Arab, is nowadays quite often also, or even more prominently seen as Islamic. Moroccan and Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands were in the past identified by their countries of origin, but today their so-called religious identity is placed to the foreground much more prominently.

People in Europe may look somewhat astonished when I mention that after Turkey I also had a “Christian” posting, notably Germany. (I shall leave the playful remark, made on the occasion of my official departure from Ankara to Berlin, that I was actually leaving for the largest Turkish city outside Turkey, out of consideration here). I had never before considered the European countries as specifically “Christian”. The more so I was surprised when the then Prime Minister of Turkey, Mrs. Ciller announced somewhere in 1998 that the European Union should be branded as a “Christian club” in case it would not welcome Turkey into its ranks. I think that only few Europeans saw the European Union as a kind of Christian club. Nevertheless Mrs. Ciller had introduced a new religious element into the political game, which was difficult to undo later on. Even today, many Europeans will still not see the European Union as a Christian
organization, even though it is not uncommon to say that the EU is founded on Christian norms and values. Turkey, which at the time was considered to be a secular bulwark, also in the time of Prime Minister Ciller, is now being seen more and more as an Islamic country, irrespective of the fact that quite other factors have played a role here, next to the remarks of Mrs. Ciller. Nowadays the Islamic identity of Turkey is underlined by those within the European Union
who do not like to see Turkey being taken up within their ranks.

Although I am aware of the fact that countries like Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Libya have clear Muslim majorities, I have never experienced these countries primarily as Muslim countries, but rather as countries with their own cultural identity, in which to me the Arab element was the most prominent. I experienced Turkey at the time in a similar way, particularly in modern Ankara. This is not to say that the Muslim identity was not there; because it was often present very clearly, but it was also very normal and obvious. But it was also determined by the attitude of its inhabitants towards the outside world, and of course by the position of the ruling regime concerning secularism or religion. Next to this, the way in which these countries were being treated by the outside world was also playing a role. There can be a clear interaction or interplay between action and reaction, as we have been able to see clearly in the period after the 11th of September 2001.

Since the early 1960s Iraq and Syria mainly had secular Arab nationalist regimes. Both attached importance to the role of Islam, but also saw Islam as an inseparable part of Arab national history, of which both Muslims and Christians could be fully fledged and equal heirs. (The Iraqi Ba’thist regime was deposed in 2003). The Iraqi President Saddam Husayn during his speeches at the time put Arab historical figures like the Shi’i ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Sunni Mu’awiyah and the Kurdish Salah al-Din (al-Tikriti), and others on an equal footing as Arab
national heroes, thereby wanting to bridge the sectarian differences within Iraqi society.

At the same time, Islamic fundamentalist organizations and movements were suppressed everywhere, because they were considered as – or they really constituted – a threat to the existing regimes. And I am referring to a period of which has already lasted at least half a century, be it that after the 11 September 2001 a lot has been put into motion and polarization has taken place.

Does Islam adapt itself to society or does society adapt itself to Islam?

Islam can be considered as a universalistic and all-comprising religion that touches upon all aspect of life of Muslims. But can this view also be turned the other way around? Are all aspects of life explainable through Islam? Or to put it differently, can all acts of Muslims or all developments in societies with a majority of Muslims, also sometimes called Islamic societies, be explained through Islam? In principle, I think, they could, from a Muslim perspective. But
if they could be explained in one way or another through Islam, should they therefore also necessarily be explained through Islam? Particularly in a world in which not everyone is Muslim and where a great variety of religions live side by side together?

Some describe Indonesia as an Islamic state or country, although there are many people with other religions living here. They constitute some 10% of the population, making up some 24 million people. Of the 33 Provinces 10 have now a non-Muslim Governor. Instead of calling Indonesia an Islamic country, it is often preferred to describe it as “the country with the biggest Muslim population of the world”, having an official state ideology, the Pancasila, which
could be described as secular and where the principle of “unity in diversity” is to be respected. It is even the slogan in the national weapon: “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika”.

Islam is a hot topic in the West and in the Islamic world itself

Islam is a hot topic in the West, and not only there, but also in the Islamic world itself. Many people talk about it, but much fewer people are knowledgeable about it. If you want to organize a seminar on “democracy in South East Asia”, for instance, it may not be that easy to raise funds for it. But if you add the word “Islam”, and make it about the role of democracy and Islam in South East Asia, the chances become much better. Nevertheless it may be wrong to stress the idea of any connection between Islam and all kinds of developments in the world. The danger exists that Islam becomes a kind of fixation, thereby adding to a misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims or between so-called Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries. It is as if a kind of polarization is being stimulated, exactly there where we do not want such a polarization.

After the 11th of September many people in the West thought they could have a much better understanding of what were the deeper backgrounds of what had happened in New York by reading the Qur’an. I was posted in Berlin at the time, and found out that for that reason the German translation of the meaning of the Qur’an became the book most widely sold in Germany in this period. But could it help its readers much further in understanding what had happened? I do not think so. It may be of course very instructive to read the Qur’an, particularly for
those who have not done yet, but to understand everything happening in the world is a different matter.

To fully understand the Qur’an one needs additional explanations andclarifications to the text. This applies also to those who are well versed in Qur’anic Arabic. Sometimes one needs to read a lot of books in order to discover that one would not have had to read them after all. Sometimes things are much easier and simpler to explain.

Some have noted that “the Islam” does not really exist, because there are so many forms of Islam. I would argue, rather, that although Islam does have so many varieties and while there is such a rich diversity in Islamic communities, this does not exclude “the Islam” from existing. It merely means there are many different interpretations of it. Certain basic principles of Islam are the same everywhere. What is different are the regional and cultural diversities amongst
Islamic communities. Islam emanated in a specific Arabian social and cultural environment, existing in the Arabian peninsula at the time of the Prophet Muhammad ( ). It is only natural, therefore, that the original Islam contains many Arab specifics. Although Islam can be said to be a universalistic religion, it can also be said that it started as an Arab religion, revealed in the Arabic language. This language is so much part of Islam, that it is considered inappropriate to do the ritual prayer (Salat) in any other language than Arabic. An Indonesian religious leader who led the ritual prayers in Indonesian was imprisoned for this.

The Arabic language enjoys great prestige in Indonesia. Nevertheless the number of people who have a clear command of the Arabic language in Indonesia is not very big. Perhaps this has even added to its prestige.

When Islam spread outside the Arabian Peninsula and came into contact with other cultures, Islam adapted itself to these regions in the sense that various local habits and traditions where not only being accepted as not contradicting those of Islam, but were later on also sometimes interpreted by the local populations as being in line with Islam, if not Islamic itself. Many people who as new Muslims continued part of their former traditions, gradually came to argue that these traditions were in fact part of Islam. In the traditional West Sumatra Minangkabau society, for instance, Minang culture is said to be based on Islam: “culture based on religion, which in turn is being based on the Qur’an”. One might, however, also say that Islam has merged here to a large extent with local culture, because Islamic religion and Adat are in this region perceived to be almost identical.

More generally, one might say that in large parts of Indonesia Islam has adapted itself to the local cultures and traditions, or has embedded itself into them, instead of fully adapting to the culture and traditions of the Arabian Peninsula the other way around. A similar phenomenon could be said to have taken place in other regions of what today is considered to be the Islamic world. In many places people interpret local habits or traditions as part of Islam, whereas in fact they are not really. Also cultural manifestations based on different religious-
cultural backgrounds generally coexist peacefully together in Indonesia.

Some personal observations about culture and religion in Indonesia

I hope you do not mind when, as a non-Indonesian, I propose to share with you some of my personal observations about culture and religion in Indonesia. They are made from the perspective of a foreigner who for a long time has lived in other parts of the Islamic world, which are rather different from Indonesia. Just take a few examples from Indonesia in which culture and religion exist side by side:

– The Ramayana is a very popular epic Indonesia, Java in particular. When I saw this dance performed in Yogyakarta for the first time, I asked what the religion of the dancers was. The reply was that they were all Muslims. I was amazed because I considered the Ramayana performance to be Hindu, and therefore was surprised that the dance of another religion could be performed by Muslims. A friend of mine, who had studied Indonesia for a long time, explained, however, that the Ramayana should in this case not be considered as a Hindu dance, but rather as a performance which was an expression of Indonesian or Javanese
culture. Therefore culture was the key concept here, not religion.

– Something similar is the case when you look at many of the Javanese mosques. As has been described by Prof. Pijper in his well-known study on the mosques of Java, the roof or roofs of the Javanese mosques consist of various layers, the forms of which go back to Hindu-Javanese times, and may symbolize various heavens. These have nothing to do with Islam, but rather with the heavens existing in Hinduism. Here, again, the present shape has nothing to do with Hindu religion, but is rather a residue of Hindu culture in Java.

– Whereas in many other countries with Islamic majorities the use of Arabic Islamic names is very popular, in Indonesia, Java in particular, it is more common to frequently use traditional Javanese names. For that reason it is often not possible to know someone’s religious identity. But the ethnic and cultural background is often easily recognized. It is another example of the fact that traditional culture is given a prominent place in Indonesian society.

– Quite particular is also the performing by women of reciting the Qur’an during opening ceremonies of important gatherings. In other Islamic or Arab countries I have never noticed such a phenomenon. It simply is an Indonesian tradition which reflects more the position of women in society than religion itself.

– Another special phenomenon in Indonesia is the greeting of different religious communities with their respective greeting formulas, even if one does not belong to one of these communities. When addressing a Muslim audience it is fully accepted in Indonesia to start with “assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh”, also by non-Muslims (although not all Muslims appreciate this); when addressing Christians in for instance Manado one might start with “shalom”, and in Bali the Buddhist greetings might be used. It is, however, appropriate to, after a religious formula, always add: “Salam sejahtera bagi kita semua”, so as not to exclude anyone from being addressed.

When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono started his opening of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali, December 2007, with the Muslim formulas “Bismillahi al-Rahman al-Rahim” and “assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh”, the master of ceremonies followed in English by saying to all the guests: “welcome to the Island of the Gods”, which is the commonly used name for Bali (Pulau Dewata). The special element here is that the plural of Gods is used, which normally would be considered as not in line with the principle of monotheism in a religion like Islam. But in Indonesia this terminology is fully acceptable, because it is understood as a cultural concept rather than a religious one. In this respect Indonesia differs from various other countries with a Muslim majority. Compare the situation with a country like Malaysia where the usage of the word Allah is supposed to be prohibited to non-Muslims, whereas it is just the word for God in Arabic. The name ‘Abd Allah is not uncommon among Christians in the Arab world, and was already in use in pre-Islamic times. The name of the Father of the Prophet Muhammad ( ) was ‘Abd Allah as well, whereas he certainly was not a Muslim, because Islam did not yet exist in his time… It would be strange to have to say ‘Abd al-Tuhan.

– Take another example of Indonesia: The Borobodur Hotel in Jakarta is full of Hindu statues and Gods, but nobody minds, because it is an expression of culture, just like Egypt has the statues of its Pharaohs and Egyptian gods and goddesses, whereas at the same time Egypt can be considered as a traditional Islamic religious country, and so on.

Other Islamic countries have their own examples concerning the local cultural heritage and Islam existing side by side. It could be noted, for instance, that whereas in strongly traditional Islamic Saudi Arabia women are prohibited from driving a car, the same is allowed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. These differences have nothing to do with Islam itself, but rather with different cultures existing in these countries. Similarly, the harsh treatment of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan is much more a reflection of regional tribal customs and attitudes than that is part of Islam. The acid throwing into the faces of women happens in wider parts of
Asia, including in India and Cambodia, and can be seen as purely criminal. It goes so far as to fully mix up Islamic religion and other phenomena, which have nothing to do with Islam. Other examples are female circumcision, which is most widely spread in Africa, and the so-called honor killings.

But this does not prevent larger part of the non-Muslim world from perceiving these attitudes as being connected with Islam, which therefore generally has a non-favorable effect on the attitude towards Islam in the West.

Or take the example of whipping which is used as a type of shari’ah-punishment. Are people against such forms of corporal punishment as a matter of principle, or because they are part of Shari’ah? During a discussion on this issue with some Europeans, I once made the remark that similar punishments were also carried out in Singapore. The reaction of one of my non-Muslim
counterparts was: “Yes, but that is not Shari’ah”…

When exchanging views within the framework of an inter-cultural, or inter-faith dialogue, we do not necessarily have to discuss religious issues as such. After all, it is common for most believers to consider their own beliefs to be the best and most correct. What is more important is to discuss underlying values and beliefs, which the various parties may have in common.

Mutual respect for religious and cultural diversity can only enhance unity, both internationally as well as nationally. Those who have disrespect for religious and cultural diversity, because they think it might undermine unity, may just achieve the opposite and create disunity.

Thank you for your attention.

Not everyone is happy about the speech:
Gates of Vienna: Dutch Ambassador Defends Islam at an Indonesian Madrassa

Freedom Party chairman Geert Wilders: “While speaking to an audience at the Institute for Quranic Studies in Jakarta, Mr Van Dam acted as an advocate of Islam, rather than a representative of the Netherlands.

“In doing this, he has lost all credibility. Instead of trying to defend Islam Mr Van Dam should be defending the universal human rights and be committed to improve the situation of the Christian minority in Indonesia.”

Freedom Party MPs Geert Wilders and Barry Madlener demanded the resignation of Mr Van Dam in written questions to the Dutch Secretary of State.

1 comment.

Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics

Posted on May 5th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Featured, Public Islam.

Note: This entry has been updated. See below, the part about the Netherlands.

If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE.

The following video is a hit on the world wide web:

YouTube – Muslim Demographics

friendofmuslim

Islam will overwhelm Christendom unless Christians recognize the demographic realities, begin reproducing again, and share the gospel with Muslims.

Here is a transcript of the text of the video:

In 40 years, Europe will be a Muslim continent

FTV–The world is changing. The Global culture our children will inherit will be vastly different than it is today. You are about to witness a report on the worlds changing demographics.

ACCORDING TO RESEARCH, IN ORDER FOR A CULTURE TO MAINTAIN ITSELF FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS there MUST be a fertility rate of 2.11 per family.With anything less the culture will decline. Historically no culture has ever reversed with a 1.9 fertility rate.

A rate of 1.3 is IMPOSSIBLE to reverse. Because it would take 80 to 100 years to correct itself. And there is no economic model that can sustain a culture during that time.

In other words, if 2 sets of parents each have a child, there are half as many children as parents. If those children have one child, then are 1/4 as many grandchildren as grandparents. If only a million babies were born in 2006, it’s hard to have 2 million adults enter the workforce in 2026.

As the population shrinks, so does the culture.

As of 2007 the fertility rate in France was 1.8

England 1.6

Greece 1.3

Germany 1.3

Italy 1.2

Spain 1.1

Across the entire European Union, in 31 countries, the fertility rate is mere 1.38

Historical research has told us these numbers are impossible to reverse.

In a matter of years Europe as we know it will cease to exist. Yet the population of Europe is not declining. Why? Immigration. ISLAMIC immigration.Of all population growth in Europe since 1990, has been Islamic immigration.

France 1.8 children per family

Muslims 8.1

In Southern France, traditionally one of the most populated Church regions in the world, there are now more Mosques than Churches. 30% of children ages 20 and younger, are now Islamic.

In larger cities such as Nice and Paris the number has grown to 45%.

By the year 2027, 1 in 5 Frenchmen will be Muslim. In just 39 years France will be an Islamic Republic. In the last 30 years the Muslim population of Great Britain rose from 82,000 to 2.5 MILLION. A 30 fold Increase. There are over 1,000 Mosques, many of them former Churches.

In the Netherlands 50% of all newborns are Muslim. And in only 15 years, half of the population of the Netherlands, will be Muslim.

In Russia, there are 23 MILLION Muslims. That’s 1 out of 5 Russians.. 45% of the entire Russian Army will be Islamic in just a few short years.

Currently in Belgium, 25% of the population, and 50% of the newborns, are Muslim. has stated ”

The government of Belgium has stated 1/3 of all European children will be born to Muslim families by the year 2025. Just 17 years away.

The German government, the first to talk about this openly, recently released a statement saying: “The fall in the population ( German ), can no longer be stopped. It’s downward spiral is irreversible…It will be a Muslim state by the year 2050! -( German Federal Statistics Office )

Muammar al-Ghadaffi of Libya has said: “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, and without conquest.

We don’t need terrorists , we don’t need suicide bombers. The 50+ Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim Continent in a few decades”

There are currently 52 MILLION plus Muslims in Europe. The German government has said that number is expected to double in the next 20 years to 104 MILLION Muslims.

Closer to home the numbers tell a similar story. Right now, Canada’s fertility rate is 1.6, nearly a full point below the 2.11 required to sustain a culture. And now Islam is now the fastest growing religion. Between 2001 and 2006, Canada’s population increased by 1.6 million.1.2 of those? Immigration.

In the US, the current fertility rate USA citizens is 1.6. With the influx of the Latino nations, the fertility rate increases is 2.11. The bare minimum required to sustain a culture.

In 1970 there were 100,000 Muslims in America. In 2008 there were over 9 MILLION-( 9,000,000) The world is changing, it’s time to WAKE UP!

Muslim Demographics

3 years ago, a meeting of 24 Islamic Organizations was held in Chicago. The transcripts of that meeting showed in detail, their plans to “evangelize” America. Through journalism, politics, education, and more. They said “We must prepare ourselves for the reality that in 30 years there will be 50 million Muslims living in America. ( Islamic Strategy Conference in Chicago )

The world that we live in is not the world in which our children and grandchildren will live.

The Catholic church recently reported that Islam has just surpassed their membership numbers.

Some studies show that at Islams current rate of growth, in 5-7 years it will be the dominant religion of the world.

Again, it is time to AWAKEN out of our malaise in this country. Unless YOU want to be the next offering of Islam on the altar of it’s “god” aka the father of lies.<– ( I said this )

As believers we call upon you to share the Gospel message with a changing world. This is a call to ACTION!

It is part of a discourse that is prevalent among many:

1. Islam is a threat to (Western) liberal values
2. The islamization of (Western) society is in progress
3. Western societies are therefore threatened and the threat needs to be stopped before it is too late

Another part of the discourse is the following:

1. Islam is a threat to (Western) liberal values
2. Muslims are governed by Islam
3. Migrants from countries where Islam is (almost) a majority religion are therefore Muslim
4. Muslim migration poses a threat do (Western) liberal values

And a third part of the discourse is:

1. Islam is a threat to (Western) liberal values
2. Islam governs Muslims
3. Islam says procreate
4. Therefore Muslims procreate faster than other people
5. The high fertility rates among Muslims threaten (Western) liberal values and societies

More or less the production of such discourses is meant to let people conclude something like this:

Broken Arrows | Pass the Salt

Our nation is under an invasion and there is no one standing at the gate with whom they must speak. We must encourage Christian couples to start having babies. The future of our nation depends on them. At some point, as the war intensifies, Christians will reach for arrows to shoot at the enemy. What will we do when we find our quiver is empty? Maybe, we can throw a plasma TV at them.

The video is not only meant to provide evidence for, in particular the latter, such a logic, it also calls upon Christians to have more children and share their faith with Muslims. How credible are the statistics that are used in the video? I meant to do a thorough search for all the statistics but I don’t have enough time for that. Fortunately several other bloggers have done the job for me and I will list the most important results and provide links to their websites.

One of the most extensive reviews is made by Tiny Frog. I will list the most important claims and Tiny Frog’s counterclaims. Below that I will add some more info about the Netherlands:

Muslim Demographics « Tiny Frog

1. Claim: “Historically, no culture has ever reversed a 1.9 fertility rate.”They provide no source for this claim. However, birth rates do vary over time, and have increased.
2. Claim: “A rate of 1.3: impossible to reverse… There is no economic model that can sustain itself during that time.”It’s true that declining birth rates cause a lot of problems for nations […];It’s also worth noting that the fertility rates of these nations have been rising slightly over the past five years.
3. Claim: “France: 1.8 Children per family, Muslims: 8.1.”They list of source for this claim, but it’s too small to read. This claim is almost certainly false. First, there isn’t a country in the whole world that has a fertility rate of 8 children, so I doubt that millions of Muslims in France’s are having that many children.
4. Claim: “In the Netherlands, 50% of all newborns are Muslim.”That same article I read a few years ago claimed that 50% of all newborns within a particular Dutch city were Muslim (which may or may not be accurate). I have to wonder if that claim was generalized to “In the Netherlands, 50% of all newborns are Muslim.” There are approximately 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands, a nation of 16.6 million people. So Muslims makeup about 6% of the total population. Yet, we’re supposed to believe 50% of the children born in the Netherlands are Muslim? The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.66 children per person. Mathematically, Muslims in the Netherlands would need to have 26 children to makeup 50% of the births in the country.Further, if we look at the countries of origin of these Muslims, we find that 2/3rds immigrated from Turkey (1.87 fertility rate) or Morocco (2.57 fertility rate).
5. Claim: “In only 15 years, half of the population of the Netherlands will be Muslim.” It makes my head hurt to figure out how 1 million Muslims will outnumber 15.6 million non-Muslims in 15 years.
6. Claim: “In Russia, there are over 23 million Muslims, that’s 1 out of 5 Russians.”According to Wikipedia:According to the most recent estimates by the R&F Agency, there are more than 20 million officially self-identified Muslims in Russia, a number that has risen by 40% in the last 15 years, though no more than 6 million are truly orthodox. Roman Silantyev, a Russian Islamologist has estimated that there are only between 7 and 9 million people who practise Islam in Russia, and that the rest are only Muslims by ethnicity.Also, Russia’s population is 140 million. Even if “23 million muslims” was accurate, that’s 16.4%, not 1 out of 5 (or 20%).
7. Claim: “Currently in Belgium, 25% of the population and 50% of all newborns are Muslim.”Wikipedia states: An 2008 estimation shows that 6% of the Belgian population, about 628,751, is Muslim (98% Sunni). Muslims cover 25.5% of the population of Brussels, 4.0% of Wallonia and 3.9% of Flanders.Maybe they mixed up “Brussels” and “Belgium”. Regardless, they inflated the percentage of Muslims in Belgium from 6% to 25%. Again, we see the same pattern of immigration as we saw in the Netherlands – 2/3rds are Moroccans and Turkish immigrants – whose home countries have relatively low birthrates (2.57 and 1.87, respectively).
8. Claim: “1/3rd of all European children will be born to Muslim families by 2025, just 17 years away.” That doesn’t seem very likely considering that Muslims currently makeup “4 percent of the European Union’s population” (Source). This particular claim about “1/3rd of all European children” appears to come from the Right-wing Brussel’s Journal.
9. Claim: “The German Government, the first to talk about this publicly, recently released a public saying, ‘the fall in the German population can no longer be stopped. Its downward spiral is no longer reversible… It will be a Muslim state by 2050.” Considering that Muslims makeup 4.0% of the German population, that statement seems over the top. They credit the “Germany Federal Statistics Office” with the statement that “[Germany] will be a Muslim state by 2050?, when it was actually a statement made by a vague group identified as “some demographic trend-watchers”. Immediately, in the next paragraph, they mention the right-wing Brussels Journal – leading me to suspect that they are the “demographic trend-watchers”.(2) The quote was twisted from “is well on the way to becoming a Muslim state by 2050? into “It will be a Muslim state by 2050?.
10. Claim: “There are currently 52 million Muslims in Europe. The German government said that number is expected to double in the next 20 years to 104 million.” The EU population is 491 million, 4% (19.6 million) of which are Muslim (Source).
11. Claim: “In the United States, the current fertility rate of American citizens is 1.6. With the influx of the latino nations, the rate increases to 2.11; the bare minimum needed to sustain a culture.” Considering that latinos makeup only 13% of the US population, it’s hard to believe they can single-handedly bring-up the fertility rate from 1.6 to 2.11.
12. Claim: “Today, there are over 9 million [muslims in the United States]“.Reality? No one really knows. Estimates vary between 1.1 million and 8 million.
13. This wasn’t specifically argued in the video, but I should also add that the fertility rates among Muslims (in their own countries) is also declining.
14. And let’s not forget that some Muslim countries have already fallen below the replacement number of 2.11 (and, supposedly, below the mythical 1.9 fertility rate that the video says is very, very bad). When you look at the three most populous countries of the Middle East (Egypt, 79 million; Turkey, 70 million; Iran, 69 million), you find that Turkey and Iran have already dropped below a fertility rate of 2.0. Egypt recently dropped below a fertility rate of 3.0, and the Egyptian government is aiming to get it down to 2.0 within 8 years. All three are experiencing a decline in their fertility rates.

Therefore, based upon this analysis we can say that most numbers given in the video are at least unclear, more likely distortions and at worst false. Let me add a few things:

1. As already noted in the analysis above, low fertility rates do cause serious problems:
   

   Population paradox: Europe’s time bomb – Europe, World – The IndependentThe implications of all this are enormous. Low-birth Europe is faced with an ageing population, a pensions crisis, later retirement, changes in work patterns, shrinking cities and a massive looming healthcare cost. Nations of children with no siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles – only parents, grandparents, and perhaps great-grandparents – will face the burden of paying for the care of a massive older generation. The same prospect of an older, more conservative, less vigorous or inventive culture looms in China, Japan and much of the Far East.Meanwhile high-birth Africa will remain stuck in a vicious circle unless it gets economic growth, agricultural reform, improved world trade terms, infrastructure investment, better health and education systems, more girls into school and a wider availability of family planning. A tall order, though the example of Bangladesh shows change can come.

2. About the Netherlands. The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) makes clear the Muslims are most likely to remain a minority. See HERE (pdf). The number 50% pertains to statistics about the city of Amsterdam but is incorrect (or I just can’t find it). In 2004 51% of the Amsterdam population was native with an increasing number of migrants moving from Amsterdam to Almere (one of the suburbs; 70% of the total number of people moving to Almere was migrant). UPDATE: I finally found the statistics on the four major cities in the Netherlands. You can find them HERE. (The first column gives the different migrantgroups and Dutch natives. The next columns are for Amsterdam (51% native), Rotterdam (53,8% native), The Hague (53,8% native), Utrecht (69% native) and the Netherlands (80,4% native) as a whole. Note that a few areas in Amsterdam and Rotterdam have more then 85% migrants. Among Dutch women over 30 there was a remarkable increase in fertility rate, while it decreased among migrant women. Second generation migrants in Amsterdam have fewer children than their parents did. This development corresponds with that of the rest of the Netherlands as you can read in the report of NIDI mentioned here. Furthermore, the estimated number of Muslims 940.000 is based upon a calculation. In this calculation it is assumed, for example, that when in Turkey a X% of the population is Muslim, the same percentage will apply to migrants. This is not always accurate. In the case of Turkey there are a lot of Christian migrants as well as secular Muslims and Christians. This also means that the label Muslim does not say much; one can be secular, pious, radical, traditional or perhaps even combinations of that. The number of Muslims differs considerably per region with some high numbers in cities in the west and some small provincial towns. In 2007 a new method of estimating the number of Muslims has been used based upon people’s self-identification in a survey. The revised number of Muslims is now 850.000. The links lead to the webiste of Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the official bureau for statistics, often used by the government but also by researchers. The report by NIDI is based upon data from Statistics Netherlands.
3. In talking about ‘Muslim’ demographics we not only ignore the fact that we do not know anything about the nature of Muslim identity behind the numbers (or the Sunni/Shi’a divide) but also the ethnic diversity among Muslims. In the Netherlands Muslims in general are well organized but mainly on ethnic grounds: there are Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, Somalian organizations at the national and local level and two national organizations that unite the most important (ethnic) organizations. In order to understand intra-Muslim politics this ethnic division is very (if not most) important.
4. Not only non-Muslims are claiming that Islam is one of the (or the) fastest growing religion. We can hear the same among Muslims. Such a claim is not very surprising. For example among Pentecostals we also find the claim that they are the fastest growing religion on Earth. Wiki even has a page dedicated to the topic Claims to be the fastest growing religion, showing a number of religion (almost all actually) and its adherents claiming it to be the fastest. The page also shows why these claims are often unreliable because of a lack of hard data.
5. In the video it is mentioned that the fertility rate among French Muslims is about 8 children. According to Tiny Frog, however, there is no country in the world with such a fertility rate. That is not correct: Uganda (8.5), Niger (8.4), Madagascar (8.1) and Eritrea (8.0) have such high fertility rates in 2004.
6. The video mentions 2.1 as the ‘bare minimum to sustain a culture’. What is probably referred to here is the replacement fertility; the level at which the population remains stable. If a population indeed declines is also related to migration and population momentum. If the low fertility remains at a low level and combined with other developments the population will decline. But does a decreasing population mean that a culture cannot be sustained? Also does culture = population, that is is a culture homogeneous? It is assumed in the video but in most countries that just is not the case.

Also Islam in Europe, Street Prophets, Daily Kos and Europenews have relevant comments to this whole issue.  Martin Walker has written an interesting article for The Wilson Quarterly that is very important in understanding all of this:

The World’s New Numbers

The World’s New Numbers

by Martin Walker

“Here lies Europe, overwhelmed by Muslim immigrants and emptied of native-born Europeans.” That is the obituary some pundits have been writing in recent years. But neither the immigrants nor the Europeans are playing their assigned roles.

Something dramatic has happened to the world’s birthrates. Defying predictions of demographic decline, northern Europeans have started having more babies. Britain and France are now projecting steady population growth through the middle of the century. In North America, the trends are similar. In 2050, according to United Nations projections, it is possible that nearly as many babies will be born in the United States as in China. Indeed, the population of the world’s current demographic colossus will be shrinking. And China is but one particularly sharp example of a widespread fall in birthrates that is occurring across most of the developing world, including much of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The one glaring exception to this trend is sub-Saharan Africa, which by the end of this century may be home to ­one-­third of the human ­race.

The human habit is simply to project current trends into the future. Demographic realities are seldom kind to the predictions that result. The decision to have a child depends on innumerable personal considerations and larger, unaccountable societal factors that are in constant flux. Yet even knowing this, demographers themselves are often flummoxed. Projections of birthrates and population totals are often embarrassingly at odds with eventual reality.

[…]

Because of this bastardization of knowledge, three deeply misleading assumptions about demographic trends have become lodged in the public mind. The first is that mass migration into Europe, legal and illegal, combined with an eroding native population base, is transforming the ethnic, cultural, and religious identity of the continent. The second assumption, which is related to the first, is that Europe’s native population is in steady and serious decline from a falling birthrate, and that the aging population will place intolerable demands on governments to maintain public pension and health systems. The third is that population growth in the developing world will continue at a high rate. Allowing for the uncertainty of all population projections, the most recent data indicate that all of these assumptions are highly questionable and that they are not a reliable basis for serious policy ­decisions.

[…]

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that while Muhammad topped Thomas in 2006, it was something of a Pyrrhic victory: Fewer than two percent of Britain’s male babies bore the prophet’s name. One fact that gets lost among distractions such as the Times story is that the birthrates of Muslim women in Europe—and around the world—have been falling significantly for some time. Data on birthrates among different religious groups in Europe are scarce, but they point in a clear direction. Between 1990 and 2005, for example, the fertility rate in the Netherlands for Moroccan-born women fell from 4.9 to 2.9, and for ­Turkish-­born women from 3.2 to 1.9. In 1970, ­Turkish-­born women in Germany had on average two children more than ­German-­born women. By 1996, the difference had fallen to one child, and it has now dropped to half that number.

These sharp reductions in fertility among Muslim immigrants reflect important cultural shifts, which include universal female education, rising living standards, the inculcation of local mores, and widespread availability of contraception. Broadly speaking, birthrates among immigrants tend to rise or fall to the local statistical norm within two ­generations.

The decline of Muslim birthrates is a global phenomenon. Most analysts have focused on the remarkably high proportion of people under age 25 in the Arab countries, which has inspired some crude forecasts about what this implies for the future. Yet recent UN data suggest that Arab birthrates are falling fast, and that the number of births among women under the age of 20 is dropping even more sharply. Only two Arab countries still have high fertility rates: Yemen and the Palestinian ­territories.

[…]

The falling fertility rates in large segments of the Islamic world have been matched by another significant shift: Across northern and western Europe, women have suddenly started having more babies. Germany’s minister for the family, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in February that the country had recorded its second straight year of increased births. Sweden’s fertility rate jumped eight percent in 2004 and stayed put. Both Britain and France now project that their populations will rise from the current 60 million each to more than 75 million by ­mid­century. Germany, despite its recent uptick in births, still seems likely to drop to 70 million or less by 2050 and lose its status as Europe’s most populous country.

In Britain, the number of births rose in 2007 for the sixth year in a row. Britain’s fertility rate has increased from 1.6 to 1.9 in just six years, with a striking contribution from women in their thirties and ­forties—­just the kind of hard-to-predict behavioral change that drives demographers wild. The fertility rate is at its highest level since 1980. The National Health Service has started an emergency recruitment drive to hire more midwives, tempting early retirees from the profession back to work with a bonus of up to $6,000. In Scotland, where births have been increasing by five percent a year, Glasgow’s Herald has reported “a mini baby boom.”

Immigrant mothers account for part of the fertility increase throughout Europe, but only part. And, significantly, many of the immigrants are arrivals from elsewhere in Europe, especially the eastern European countries admitted to the European Union in recent years. Children born to eastern European immigrants accounted for a third of Scotland’s ­“mini ­baby boom,” for ­example.

[…]

Population growth on a scale comparable to that which frightened pundits and demographers a generation ago still exists in 30 of the world’s least developed countries. Each has a fertility rate of more than five. With a few ­exceptions—notably, ­Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories—­those countries are located in ­sub-­Saharan Africa. Depending on the future course of birthrates, ­sub-­Saharan Africa’s current 800 million people are likely to become 1.7 billion by 2050 and three billion by the end of the ­century.

One striking implication of this growth is that there will be a great religious revolution, as Africa becomes the home of monotheism. By ­midcen­tury, sub-Saharan Africa is likely to be the demographic center of Islam, home to as many Muslims as Asia and to far more than inhabit the Middle East. The ­non-­Arab Muslim countries of ­Africa—­Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal—constitute the one region of the Islamic world where birthrates remain high. In several of these countries, the average woman will have upward of five children in her lifetime.

Christianity will also feel the effects of Africa’s growth. By 2025, there will be as many Christians in ­sub-­Saharan ­Africa—­some 640 ­million—­as in South America. By 2050, it is almost certain that most of the world’s Christians will live in Africa. As Kenyan scholar John Mbiti writes, “The centers of the church’s universality [are] no longer in Geneva, Rome, Athens, Paris, London, New York, but Kinshasa, Buenos Aires, Addis Ababa, and Manila.”

But awareness of Africa’s religious revolution is usually overshadowed by the fearful possibilities raised by the continent’s rapid population growth.

[…]

Perhaps the most striking fact about the demographic transformation now unfolding is that it is going to make the world look a lot more like Europe. The world is aging in an unprecedented way. A milepost in this process came in 1998, when for the first time the number of people in the developed world over the age of 60 outnumbered those below the age of 15. By 2047, the world as a whole will reach the same ­point.

The world’s median age is 28 today, and it is expected to reach 38 by the middle of the century. In the United States, the median age at that point will be a ­young­ish 41, while it will be over 50 in Japan and 47 in Europe. The United States will be the only Western country to have been in the top 10 largest countries in terms of population size in both 1950 and 2050. Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, and Italy were all demographic titans in the middle of the 20th century. Today, only Russia and Japan still (barely) make the top 10. They will not stay there long. The world has changed. There is more and faster change to ­come.

Notwithstanding all of the qualifications one can make about the video, I think most reactions here and on other websites, seriously underestimate the power of opening the window to imagination that might be the result of this video. Hard data is only one of the ways to evaluate the video. Certainly for some people the ‘facts’ as they have been presented in the video are authentic and true because they make the threat of Islam ‘real’, ‘imaginable’. The images in the video provide people with access to the abstract notion of the Islamic threat and in some cases (as with Fitna the movie) it creates and organizes the relationship between Wilders and parts of his constituency. In that case, the real facts do not matter, what matters is making the fact of the Islamic threat real and concrete.

UPDATE

The BBC has made its own countervideo, I did not check the numbers in that one yet.

[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mINChFxRXQs /]

If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE.

25 comments.

Yme Kuiper on charisma, leadership, personality and the X-factor

Posted on May 5th, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Religion Other.

Yme Kuiper is professor by special appointment in Religious and Historical Anthropology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. He researches the historical and cultural background to changes in the relationship between religion, society and culture. He is currently busy with elites and religion in the Netherlands and Europe in the twentieth century and the research project Religion and Biography. His most recent publication is about debates among anthropologists and sociologists about religion in a recent book he has edited called Religie in Nederland [Religion in the Netherlands].

According to Kuiper the concept charisma can provide an insight into political culture. The insight that someone like Obama in the Netherlands would have had less chance of becoming great than in the United States, for example.  However the concept is losing its meaning because it is being used all over the place:

Prof. Yme Kuiper: ‘Only use the word charisma in very exceptional circumstances.’

Prof. Yme Kuiper: ‘Only use the word charisma in very exceptional circumstances.’
Date: April 28, 2009

Barack Obama apparently has it, and even Silvio Berlusconi is said to have it. A whole load of pop stars, sport heroes and businessmen are also credited with it. But what is charisma actually? Too little time is spent pondering that, thinks Prof. Yme Kuiper of the University of Groningen. ‘The concept is used too often and too readily, in my view. It won’t be long before every well-known Dutch person is called charismatic. As a result the word is losing its edge, and that’s a shame.’ When it is used properly, thinks Kuiper, the concept can provide an insight into modern-day political culture. The insight, for example, that there is much less room for charismatic leadership in the Netherlands, and that Obama would never have thrived in the polder.

Hollow words

Personality, X-factor, leadership and charisma – in everyday situations these terms are too often used as synonyms, states Yme Kuiper. ‘Charisma is running the risk of becoming an inflationary concept. It’s being said that Pim Fortuyn was charismatic. I doubt that. He may have had serious rhetorical talent, but I think he was acting the part of a charismatic person.’ If you want to use the concept of charisma properly, you must not only study the style of leadership but also the context within which the leader in question is active, and the interplay between the leader and his followers. Only by drawing historical parallels is insight created into the complexity of the phenomenon of charisma. Kuiper: ‘There’s no way of avoiding it, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, the villains of the political religions of the twentieth century, did have great deal of charisma. They fascinated large groups of people and made them enthusiastic about their delusions.’

Between religion and politics

Charisma is originally a theological concept. It is used extensively in the Old Testament in the sense of a ‘Gift of Grace’, explains Kuiper. In his view if you want to use the concept optimally, you end up with the sacral aspects of leadership – the transition zone between religion and politics. The sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) had a good eye for that, thinks Kuiper. ‘Weber himself used the concept to understand the world around him. In a demystified, secularized world, where authority would become completely based on rationality, there was a need for charismatic leadership, thought Weber. A charismatic person would offer an escape from the iron cage of bureaucracy and offer people the opportunity to participate again in a community.’

Religious symbolism

Founders of religions, prophets, apostles and sect leaders break through traditions using their charisma, based on supernatural qualities, thought Weber. At least, their followers were convinced that they were supernatural qualities. However, according to Weber neither the German Kaisers or Chancellor Von Bismarck had charisma. Kuiper: ‘But Weber greatly admired a president like Theodore Roosevelt and was very impressed by American political culture, that right from the start of the American nation-formation had had religious connotations, and where religious symbolism and references to the founding fathers were very important for the legitimacy and credibility of the political institutions.’

Charisma in the Netherlands

One of the few Dutch statesmen with charisma was Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, the founding father of the socialist movement in the Netherlands, in Kuiper’s view. ‘His way of conducting politics was partly supported by religious dimensions of charismatic leadership. He could identify himself with the suffering Christ. In their turn, Nieuwenhuis’s supporters believed in a loving way in his leadership – they regarded him as a martyr and saviour.’ In the meantime, there appears to be little room in the Netherlands any more for charismatic leadership, says Kuiper. ‘Our ministers and prime ministers have to join in a culture of “gezelligheid”, cosiness. Many people, particularly those in the populist corner, feel that they should not strike poses but nevertheless exude leadership qualities. But keeping a certain distance is also needed for charismatic leadership. A charismatic person is someone who comes from outside and wants things to be different. That is the paradox – charismatic leadership is difficult to democratize into a general will of the people, despite the charismatic person having to rely on his supporters.’

The Dutch article can be found HERE.

0 comments.

Closing the week 18

Posted on May 3rd, 2009 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere.

English (international)

Politics

ADL Condemns Anti-Islam Remarks Made by Dutch Parliamentarian During Appearances in S. Florida

ADL Condemns Anti-Islam Remarks Made by Dutch Parliamentarian During Appearances in S. Florida

Boca Raton, FL, April 28, 2009 …The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemns remarks made over the last few days at various appearances throughout South Florida by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders.

In his speeches, he claimed that “Islam is not a religion” and “the right to religious freedom should not apply to this totalitarian ideology called Islam.” Mr. Wilders also stated that the Koran is a book of hatred, and that Mohammed was both “a pedophile and a warlord.”

Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL Florida Regional Director, issued the following statement:

The ADL strongly condemns Geert Wilders’ message of hate against Islam as inflammatory, divisive and antithetical to American democratic ideals.

This rhetoric is dangerous and incendiary, and wrongly focuses on Islam as a religion, as opposed to the very real threat of extremist, radical Islamists.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

See also at LobeLog.com and watch the video:
[flashvideo filename=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpiRHgth5c8 /]

Labour ‘candidate told she was too white and Jewish’ to be selected for Muslim dominated seat | Mail Online

The Labour Party has become embroiled in a race row after a prospective female councillor was allegedly told she was ‘too white and Jewish’ to be selected.

Elaina Cohen claims that Labour councillor Mahmood Hussain said he would not support her application for an inner-city ward because ‘my Muslim members don’t want you because you are Jewish’.

See also:
Pickled Politics » Selective outrage over bigotry

If the guy did say that obviously he is a racist idiot. Anyway – the story is all over the press and blogs – OMG didn’t I tell you all these nasty Muslims are evilllll and racist!?

A couple of years ago, when the Conservative candidate Ali Miraj, was doing the rounds trying to get selected by a seat, he was told by senior Tories: “Good luck Ali, but I would be shocked if they didn’t pick a White middle-class male.” — at the time of course he was told off for embarrassing his own party by bringing up allegations of racism. Neither the blogosphere nor the media was that upset by the saga.

Opposition & Citizenship

New Statesman – Get up, stand up

Get up, stand up

Salil Tripathi

Thirty years ago, a violent clash with racists marked
the beginning of a political and artistic awakening for British Asians, writes Salil Tripathi

In April 1979, against a background of high unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment, the National Front staged a rally in Southall, a suburb of west London where many Asians had settled. These immigrants, mainly Punjabis, worked at Heathrow Airport, keeping London connected with the world. They were making efforts to assimilate, listening to BBC radio programmes such as Apna hi Ghar Samajhiye (“Think of it as your home”) and watching Nayi Zindagi, Naya Jeevan (“New way, new life”).

Under the banner of the Anti-Nazi League, Londoners of all ethnicities turned out to challenge the NF and its racist message.

Gender, Islam & Cultural Politics
The defiant poets’ society – Times Online

The defiant poets’ society
Attending a reading and writing class like this one could end in mutilation or murder for Afghan women — and simply leaving their homes could mean death. Christina Lamb returns to Afghanistan seven years after the fall of the Taliban and finds a country still rife with the persecution of females.

Perspectives: Morocco’s family code, 5 years later by Hakima Fassi-Fihri and Zakia Tahiri – Common Ground News Service

Perspectives: Morocco’s family code, 5 years later
by Hakima Fassi-Fihri and Zakia Tahiri

It’s time for additional reforms by Hakima Fassi-Fihri

Rabat – In February 2004, Morocco was praised for significant progress in the field of women’s rights, particularly for revising its 1958 family code – the “Moudawana”. This reform was the result of many years of work between academics, theologians, activists and legal experts.

Five years later, it’s time to assess whether this praise was warranted.

A black Muslim, a priest, and an Episcopalian walk into a bar… | Bitch Magazine

A black Muslim, a priest, and an Episcopalian walk into a bar…

*wait for it*

…and they are all the same woman.

Meet Ann Holmes Redding

Mona Eltahawy on Afghan Women « Nuseiba

It’s always refreshing to hear Muslim women’s voices on issues affecting them. There should be more Muslim women in such discussions– Egyptian writer Mona Eltahawy’s being no exception. However, when I read her recent article No Faith in Afghan Clerics, I was somewhat disappointed. Eltahawy takes what is a complicated issue and reduces it to misogyny.

Islam’s Sex Licenses – Page 1 – The Daily Beast

Temporary “pleasure marriages” offer unwed Muslims a way around the Islamic rule against premarital sex. Betwa Sharma talks to one young American Shiite who’s on his 25th “I do.”

Carnival Time – Celebrating Muslim Motherhood « Outlines

Firstly, a confession. I didn’t get many submissions, so I actually went hunting for some worthy material.

Masha Allah, there is so much out there, this is just a small selection.

If anyone would like to add to it, please email me: safiyaoutlines at gmail dot com, or alternatively, you can leave comment.

On with the carnival!

Southern California InFocus – Muslims find Islamic ways to be fashionable

Models strutted down runways in winter in wide-leg pants, bulky jackets, long cardigans and the ever-so controversial keffiyah-like scarves, sometimes wrapped around their heads or trailing off their shoulders. Months later, spring and summer fashions have held on to stylized neck scarves and looser clothing, fitting into the lifestyle of modest women looking for a fashionably-refined appearance.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Kurdish women seek football freedom

Kurdish women’s football teams are still pretty new.

The first only started a couple of years ago, but they are being seen as a way to prize open the door to more equality in a male-dominated society that takes a dim view of women in sport.

A Quiet Revolution Grows in the Muslim World – TIME

Three decades after Iran’s upheaval established Islamic clerical rule for the first time in 14 centuries, a quieter and more profound revolution is transforming the Muslim world. Dalia Ziada is a part of it.

BMI told stewardess to wear Muslim robe -Times Online

BMI told stewardess to wear Muslim robe
Jon Ungoed-Thomas

A BRITISH air stewardess was sacked for refusing to fly to Saudi Arabia after she was ordered to wear a traditional Islamic robe and walk behind male colleagues.

BBC – BBC Radio 4 Programmes – Twin Sisters, Two Faiths

Identical twins, Elizabeth and Caroline, talk to Anna Scott-Brown about their choices to follow two very different faiths – Islam and Christianity. They discuss their strongly-held but separate beliefs, and how this affects their relationship within the family. As their own lives unfold, they also have to confront their mother’s terminal illness and come to terms with what her death will mean to them.

War on terror

Terrorism: A Cultural Phenomenon Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

The first conclusion is that the fight against terrorism continues, and that the security efforts to pursue terrorism and the terrorists – especially in Saudi Arabia – are largely successful.
[…]

The second conclusion is that the Al Qaeda organization remains active and strong; evidence of this [conclusion] can be seen in the continued existence of the group despite all efforts [to wipe it out].
[…]
The third and most important conclusion is that the persistence of Al Qaeda is a result of the persistence of the circumstances that Al Qaeda is working against, this provides the organization a suitable environment for existence and vitality.

Muslims hit by trebling in stop and search – Crime, UK – The Independent

Muslims hit by trebling in stop and search

Police used anti-terror laws to screen more than 120,000 individuals

By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

Police officers use a metal detector to search commuters for weapons at Mile End underground station in east LondonPA

Police officers use a metal detector to search commuters for weapons at Mile End underground station in east London

Police use of anti-terror stop and search powers trebled last year, prompting fears that the policy is alienating London’s Muslim communities.Officers in England and Wales used Terrorism Act powers to search 124,687 people in 2007/8, up from 41,924 in 2006/7, figures released yesterday showed. But only around 1 per cent of those searches ended in an arrest. There were 1,271 arrests in total but only 73 of those were for terror offences.

Informed Comment: Obama’s First Hundred Days in the Greater Middle East

It is too soon to tell whether he can succeed in handling this very full plate. But he has at least stopped digging us into a hole, and there is some prospect of him succeeding on at least some fronts.

It is hard to remember now how bad things were a year ago, in April of 2008, in this regard. How hopeless issues looked on all fronts, how absent and arrogant the supposed decider was, how perfidious and devious the real president-behind-the-scenes was. Obama cannot fix the world’s problems simply by taking office or making some speeches. But he does give people hope with his style, intelligence, grasp of issues, and clear ethical imperatives. It is a new day. It is a new day.

Harper Expose on Crusaders in American Military « Umar Lee

The title of this article was taken from an incident that happened in Iraq where a group of Evangelical crusaders fighting for the US armed forces went on a killing spree of Iraqis and had an Iraqi sellout from Texas write a sign that said “Jesus Killed Mohammed” on top of a tank.

This article only confirms what I have known for a long time and that is that the officer corps of the military and many parts of the military are under the control of the Christian Right and that they view their job today as to destroy Islam.

Virtual contestations

The Washington Independent » Civil War Raging in Right-Wing Blogosphere

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, jazz musician and Web designer Charles Johnson has devoted his blog, Little Green Footballs, to exposing Muslim extremism in and outside the United States. His targets have included the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filmmaker Michael Moore, Reuters, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Dan Rather, and the late pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie — who some LGF commenters (not Johnson) call “St. Pancake,” a tribute to the Israeli steamroller that killed her. LGF helped write the lexicon of the self-styled “anti-Jihadist” blogosphere — from “moonbat” (”an unthinking or insane leftist”) to “anti-idiotarian” (”anyone who grasps the significance of and does his or her best to combat the post-9/11 political alliance between the ‘Old Left’ and militant Islam”).
But in the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency, LGF has become better known for the various fights it picks with many on the right — including conservative bloggers, critics of Islamic extremism, and critics of Islam in general who used to be Johnson’s fellow travelers.

Whitehall to train pro-West Islamic groups to game Google • The Register

Whitehall officials will train pro-West Islamic groups to manipulate their Google search ranking in an attempt to drown out extremist voices online, The Register has learned.

The policy is being developed despite recent warnings from a group of international experts on radicalisation that such strategies are likely to be “largely ineffectual”.

The need for constructive discussion on tariqa problems – Indigo Jo Blogs

The last few weeks have seen an upsurge in attacks on shaikhs on various blogs, particularly on Umar Lee’s site and Salafi Burnout. It all started with Umar’s post about so-called Rand Institute Muslims and particularly Shaikh Hamza Yusuf, but the “discussion” quickly moved on to the subject of Shaikh Muhammad al-Ya’qoobi and Shaikh Nuh Keller, with a number of angry messages left on those two blogs, and a few on mine back in January and early February, mainly criticising the way Shaikh Nuh and some of those around him handle the personal affairs of students in Kharabsheh, the district of Amman where the shaikh’s zawiya and the Qasid Arabic school are located, and which is home to a number of western students.

Internet Brings Some Moderate Tone to Big Three of Faith – Digital Journal: Your News Network

Religion has entered the digital world in major ways. Not only are there mega churches in Christianity, but now the Islamic and Jewish groups use the Internet widely. Some of these teach and convert, with moderate views.

Review: Al-Mudarris Quran Software | MuslimMatters.org

A few months ago I got a copy of Al-Mudarris software. It’s essentially a software that incorporates ayaat with multiple translations and audio recitations of each individual ayah. That is nice, however, what really prompted me to utilize the software is the notes and tafsir features.

Islam, liberalism, secularismTerry Eagleton: The liberal supremacists | Comment is free | The Guardian

One side-effect of the so-called war on terror has been a crisis of liberalism. This is not only a question of alarmingly illiberal legislation, but a more general problem of how the liberal state deals with its anti-liberal enemies. This, surely, is the acid test of any liberal creed. Anyone can be tolerant of those who are tolerant. A community of the broad-minded is a pleasant place, but requires no great moral effort. The key issue is how the liberal state copes with those who reject its ideological framework. It is fashionable today to speak of being open to the “Other”. But what if the Other detests your openness as much as it does your lapdancing clubs?

There is no quarrel about how to treat those whose scorn for liberal values takes the form of blowing the legs off small children. They need to be locked up. But socialists as well as Islamists reject the liberal state, so what is to be done about them? Are they to be indulged only until they successfully challenge the state, at which point they too will find themselves behind bars with the zealots of al-Qaida?

Religious-secularist mix impacts women’s rights in Turkey by Sertaç Sehliko?lu Karaka? – Common Ground News Service

Developing modern religious interpretations to address women’s issues provides a rich and strong foundation for feminist discourses. The PRA has made significant progress in developing modern and accurate religious interpretations generally and specifically on the subject of women. Though Muslim women still have a long way to go to achieve the rights due to them in Islam, the PRA’s reforms – including giving women access to clerical positions and the prevalence of new interpretations of religious sources – are slowly paving the road to empowerment.

Feminists are prompting many of these changes in religious interpretation. In turn, strengthening women’s rights by referencing religion provides guidelines for women living in other Muslim countries, a project which is consistent with Turkey’s mission to become a model of a modern Muslim country.

Britain Grapples With Role for Islamic Justice – NYTimes.com

The Church of England has its own ecclesiastical courts. British Jews have had their own “beth din” courts for more than a century.

But ever since the archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, called in February for aspects of Islamic Shariah to be embraced alongside the traditional legal system, the government has been grappling with a public furor over the issue, assuaging critics while trying to reassure a wary and at times disaffected Muslim population that its traditions have a place in British society.

[…]

Conservatives and liberals alike — many of them unaware that the Islamic courts had been functioning at all, much less for years — have repeatedly denounced the courts as poor substitutes for British jurisprudence.

Book reviews

Belonging & Banishment: Being Muslim in Canada – Book Review | MuslimMatters.org

Most of the essays in Belonging and Banishment provided food for thought and were worth the time I spent on them. If nothing else, I appreciated that trends and ideas which have been tossed around, expressed, argued about, and developed by the Muslim community have been brought together in such a concrete manner. Although I disagree with a great deal of what was said in several of the articles articles, I think that for those who aren’t easily confused or impressed by philosophical or intellectual types, it’s a good book to have on hand.

As a whole, I am cautious of recommending the book to all and sundry; there are a few essays which I feel are great for general reading and sharing with friends and colleagues, but there are also a few which I feel can only be fully understood if one has a relatively thorough background in the history of Muslims in the West and their current socio-ideological situations.

Jihadi Suicide Bombers: The New Wave – The New York Review of Books

Two of the books under review are so illuminating about this twilight period in the 1990s that I even wonder if September 11 could have been averted if they had been published a decade earlier. One is Omar Nasiri’s Inside the Jihad, a first-person account by a Moroccan-born spy who infiltrated Islamist groups on behalf of European intelligence organizations in the 1990s; the other is Brynjar Lia’s Architect of Global Jihad, a Norwegian scholar’s account of a top al-Qaeda strategist named Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2005 and handed over to the US. He is now one of the “rendered” or disappeared prisoners. Both books are about men who were trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan in the early 1990s—when bin Laden was not even there—and who then traveled across Europe to mobilize Muslims for the emerging global jihad. The Afghan camps were providing military and technical training, ideological education, and new global networks well before al-Qaeda arrived on the scene.

Middle East

UAE – National anorexia levels ‘astonishing’ – The National Newspaper

National anorexia levels ‘astonishing’

Mitya Underwood

Doctors are worried about the level of anorexia nervosa among teenage girls after 1.8 per cent of youngsters surveyed in the country’s first study into the illness showed signs of being sufferers.

The survey of 900 girls conducted at Al Ain University found that a relatively high number of 13- to 19-year-olds were anorexic.

‘Aqoul: A Public Service Clarification for non MENA Readers, re Pig Flu

As it would happen, most non-psychotic Muslims are
(i) Aware that pigs exist
(ii) Not incredibly scandalised by the fact
(iii) Aware that Xians and others eat pigs
(iv) Aware that Swine Flu is not little pigs floating around….

Dutch
Allochtonenweblog: Nederland islamiseert, maar in welke mate? (1)

In hoeverre is er sprake van feitelijke islamisering? In hoeverre wordt er overdreven? Wie hebben er belang bij het beeld van islamisering? Aan deze en meer vragen wordt de komende tijd aandacht besteed op het Allochtonenweblog.

Masterclass over islam en geweld – Universiteit van Tilburg

Masterclass over islam en geweld
Van 8 tot 18 juni 2009 zal prof. dr. Abou El Fadl, hoogleraar aan de University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) een intensieve masterclass verzorgen voor masterstudenten van de UvT en andere universiteiten in Nederland. De titel van zijn masterclass luidt:

Moslims en de autoriteitscrisis in de islam: hoe om te gaan met fundamentalisme, radicalisme, geweld en terreur?

Khaled Abou El Fadl wordt gezien als de belangrijkste Amerikaanse voorvechter van een ‘progressieve islam’, een islam die tolerant en pluriform is en die zich naadloos laat inpassen in het wereldbeeld van de moderniteit.
In zijn boeken en tijdens zijn lectures doet hij regelmatig uitspraken als: “Zonder een intellectuele revolutie binnen de islam hebben democratie in het Midden-Oosten en de integratie van moslims in het Westen geen enkele kans van slagen.”
In een recensie over zijn boek The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists schrijft het NRC Handelsblad: “El Fadl heeft moedige, intelligente en controversiële boeken geschreven over onder meer geweld in het islamitische rechtsdenken, de verenigbaarheid van islam en democratie en de noodzaak om nieuwe methoden te ontwikkelen voor de interpretatie van de religieuze teksten.”

SpitsNieuws : Onderzoek Islam-internaten Den Haag

Onderzoek Islam-internaten Den Haag

Den Haag stelt een onderzoek in naar de mogelijke aanwezigheid van islamitische internaten in de stad. Volgens VVD’er Else van Dijk-Staats zouden er minstens drie internaten zijn die bijvoorbeeld contacten hebben met de beweging van de islamitische prediker Fethullah Gülen. Jongeren zouden in de internaten worden ,,geïsoleerd en geïndoctrineerd”.

Maghreb Magazine » ‘Moderne islam biedt ruimte voor homo’s’

Op hoge toon vraagt Youssef of Dialmy zichzelf als moslim ziet. In zijn ogen kan Dialmy onmogelijk moslim zijn. Hij heeft zich immers in zijn toedracht vierkant achter het beleid van Marcouch gesteld. Die wil volledige acceptatie van homo’s in de moslimgemeenschap bewerkstelligen, door bijeenkomsten (als deze) te organiseren, scholen lespakketten te geven, de Gay Pride naar Slotervaart te halen en ondernemers uit te nodigen een homobar te openen.

Kalm antwoordt Dialmy, hoogleraar sociologie aan de Universiteit Mohammed V in Rabat, dat hij de lezing geeft in zijn hoedanigheid van wetenschapper. En dat hij het volste recht heeft delen uit de Koran en de hadith (overleveringen van de profeet Mohammed) te citeren als wetenschappelijke onderbouwing van zijn betoog. In zijn visie van de islam, ‘een moderne islam’, zijn mensen gelijkwaardig. ‘Die gelijkwaardigheid bestaat ook op seksueel gebied, of het nu gaat om mannen en vrouwen, getrouwden en ongehuwden, hetero’s en homo’s.’ Hij vult aan dat er hadiths zijn die homoseksualiteit verbieden, maar ook die de praktijk anders uitleggen. Dialmy wil een veilige plek creëren voor homo’s in een moslimgemeenschap. ‘Niemand zou zijn identiteit hoeven te verloochenen.’

The Max Pam Globe » Zoek de nul verschillen

Uit nieuwsgierigheid vroeg ik de twee vertalingen op: die van de Gay Krant en die van de door wethouder Grashoff ingehuurde beëdigde vertaler. Ik legde ze naast elkaar en vergeleek de teksten. Op wat kleine, onbeduidende details na, zag ik geen verschil. De vertaling van de Gay Krant is praktisch dezelfde als die van de beëdigd vertaler (zie hieronder). In verschillende vertalingen zitten natuurlijk altijd verschillen, maar wezenlijk zegt Ramadan in de versie van de beëdigd vertaler niets anders.

[…]

Eigenlijk blijft alleen het argument over dat de Gay Krant de opmerkingen van Ramadan “uit zijn context” heeft gehaald. Dat is altijd beproefd, maar lafhartig argument. Communisten zeiden dat ook altijd als je kritiek had op de Sovjet-Unie. Als een dissident in een concentratiekamp werd opgesloten, was dat misschien even vervelend, maar je moest het zien in de “historische context”.

Trouwens: ook in de versie van de beëdigde vertaler stemmen de woorden van Ramadan weinig vrolijk. Zo zegt Ramadan: “Het is waar dat de islam in relatie tot de seksualiteit grenzen stelt. Zij stelt zeer duidelijke grenzen door te zeggen dat God een orde heeft gewild en dat deze orde is: de man voor de vrouw en de vrouw voor de man”.

En over homoseksualiteit zei hij tegen het niet-Westerse publiek: “Het verbod is duidelijk. Homoseksualiteit is niet iets dat men beschouwt als toegestaan in de islam”.

Als hij gaat uit leggen dat er tegenstelling is tussen de dagelijkse praktijk en wat God van ons verlangt, wordt het taalgebruik van Ramadan nogal wollig. Homoseksualiteit moet je verwerpen, maar de homoseksueel niet: “Die moet je begeleiden”.

Tsja, zou Martin Bril zeggen.

Zo dachten ze er vroeger ook over bij de EO, toen die omroep zich nog op Staphorst richtte. Waarmee ik bedoel te zeggen: laat Ramadan in alle vrijheid homoseksualiteit afwijzen. Maar een nieuwe Erasmusbrug zal hij er niet mee bouwen.

Elsevier.nl – Politiek – CDA-ideoloog verlaat partij om houding tegenover Wilders

CDA-ideoloog verlaat partij om houding tegenover Wilders

zondag 26 april 2009 10:39

CDA-prominent en emeritus-hoogleraar sociologie Anton Zijderveld heeft het lidmaatschap van zijn partij opgezegd. Het CDA neemt volgens de partij-ideoloog te weinig afstand van de ‘islamofobie’ van PVV-leider Geert Wilders.

De Standaard Online – Proces moord op jonge jood begint met ‘Allah is groot’

PARIJS (REUTERS) – In Parijs is het proces begonnen over de moord op Ilan Halimi (23), die in 2006 drie weken lang door een groep jonge immigranten vastgehouden en gemarteld werd. De ‘bende der barbaren’ eiste 450.000 euro losgeld van Halimi’s bescheiden familie want ‘alle joden zijn rijk’.

0 comments.